Nothing to Lose
by GenericUsename359
Summary: In Gaara's fight against Kimimaro, he could never have anticipated the strange and mysterious jutsu Orochimaru had taught his servant. Being sent to another dimension was certainly not on Gaara's to-do list, but does he even care? He has no friends. No Family. No loved ones. Nothing to lose. (Starts at the beginning of the Oracion Seis arc)
1. CH-1: Nothing to miss

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Naruto**

Gaara's fight against Kimimaro had been going relatively well. His strange attacks utilizing his own skeletal structure had someone caught him by surprise, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. Nothing to break his monotonous voice and emotionless stare. He wasn't even sure why he was there, really. He put it down to how much he owed the leaf for helping him deal with Shukaku, but at the end of the day, he couldn't of cared less about helping anyone but Naruto himself. And even then, it was only so he could repay his debt. There's nothing worse than being in debt after all.

But that was all before Lee happened. Being the fool he was, he thought that despite his injuries and wooziness from drinking, he could be of use while fighting against their foe. Oh how wrong he was. When he rushed forth from his position behind Gaara, Kimimaro immediately figured out how to capitalize on his mistake.

Completely halting his attacks of Gaara, he switched one hundred percent of his offense to Lee. The green suited idiot never even saw it coming, and if it weren't for Gaara at that exact moment he would've died right then.

The sand user had to use all his available to wrap it around Lee and protect him from all sides. But this left him defenseless, and Kimimaro was thinking two steps ahead. As soon as the sand left Gaara's gourd to rush to Lee's aid, he did a complete one hundred degree turn, now facing straight towards Gaara.

Gaara's eyes widened as he realized what had happened. He began recalling the sand back to him, but for those few crucial seconds, he was defenseless to whatever Kimimaro could throw at him. Which honestly wasn't much.

 _Damnit... I've used too much calcium... I can't throw any bones at him from long range... but if I try to rush him the sand will get there first! I'm stuck... The only thing I can do is that jutsu Orochimaru told me to use if I ever got into extreme trouble... but he said it's extremely unstable, with a low success rate... would it even work?... I don't know... but I have to try._

These were the thoughts running through Kimimaro's head as he ran towards Gaara. Stopping, he put his hands together to prepare the jutsu Orochimaru had taught him.

FLASHBACK

 _The low candlelight of Orochimaru's underground hideout dimly lit the stone room he was standing in. Orochimaru sat on his throne opposite him, but bandages covered almost his entire body. Kimimaro kneeled before him like a traditional knight._

 _"You summoned me?" He asked._

 _"Yes... I have something to show you..." Orochimaru replied._

 _Kimimaro looked up. "What is it?" He asked._

 _Orochimaru leaned forwards in his chair. "I've prepared my newest jutsu... but due to my... condition... I cannot perform it. Therefor I've decided to teach it to you."_

 _Kimimaro bowed his head. "It is a great honor, Lord Orochimaru."_

 _Orochimaru grinned wickedly, his snake like tongue rolling across his lips. "Just be careful... I've never tested this before, so it's probably unstable, but all you need to know is that if it works... well let's just say that even a tailed beast wouldn't survive..."_

FLASHBACK END

Kimimaro closed his eyes and focused on the jutsu as he weaved the signs. Monkey, Boar, Rabbit, Tiger, Dragon.  
" **Secret Technique: Dimensional Explosion Jutsu!** "  
A translucent purple sphere began to materialize around Gaara, who had no way to defend himself. The jutsu itself took a few seconds to finally work, and by that time Gaara had recalled all his sand. But it was too late. The inside of the purple sphere suddenly glowed bright white and a second later, Gaara was gone.

Kimimaro, his vision fading, saw the jutsu work successfully and smiled. He'd served his purpose. To serve Orochimaru.

Several miles away, the very same man watched in amusement as one of the candles in his throne room died out. "Oh?" He said to himself. "So poor little Kimimaro has kicked the bucket, what a shame." He said in a sarcastic tone. "Perhaps he used that little suicide jutsu I gave him?" Orochimaru let out a laugh at that. "Probably didn't even work."

SEVERAL HOURS LATER, IN GAARA'S MINDSCAPE

To say Gaara was extremely confused would be the understatement of the year. One minute, he was fighting one of Orochimaru's lackeys, and the next he was in his mindscape. He'd only been there once before, and that was the one time he'd fallen asleep, when Shukaku warned him not to fall asleep or he'd take over his body.

Wait. _Asleep._ Gaara's eyes widened. If he was here that could only mean one thing... he was sleeping or unconscious. And if he was in either of those states then that meant... Shukaku was free.

Gaara looked around in his mindscape. Unlike Naruto's mindscape, Gaara's was far less... nasty. The mindscape of Gaara was simply a desert. Nothing more, nothing less. The sand dunes stretched out endlessly on all sides, and the sun shone down brightly as Gaara began his slow walk towards the spot where he knew Shukaku's cage was.

The cage was rather simple really, just a classical pyramid. It was big enough to house Shukaku on the inside with plenty of room for the one tail to move around. On the front there was a huge sealing tag, although half of it had crumbled away.

Gaara walked right up to the front of it, where there was a door sized hole that he could speak to Shukaku through. But when he reached the viewing window, what he saw surprised him to the greatest degree. Shukaku was... still there. He remembered Shukaku telling him when he was younger that if he ever fell asleep he would escape the pyramid and therefor take over his body, and yet here he was, still in the cage.

Looking through the window, he saw Shukaku just laying there on his front paws. But the strangest thing was that he completely calm, and looking straight at the window Gaara was currently looking through. He wasn't screaming and shouting for bloodshed and combat like usual... no, he was just there. Not saying a word.

But then he did. "I've been waiting here for hours, kid. Where have you been?" He asked. But unlike his normal high pitched, whine like voice, his voice sounded more like Kurama's. Deep, rumbling, and overall more befitting of a great being.

Gaara didn't buy it. Not one bit. After thirteen long years of the one tailed beast harassing and deceiving him, there was no way he could just believe that it would all just... stop. "What's going on Shukaku? Why am I here?" Gaara questioned.

Shukaku continued to stare at him. "I've done nothing. It's what that strange bone guy did that's the problem here." Shukaku explained.

Gaara stared back at the giant beast. "And what would that be?"

Shukaku closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "I'm not too sure myself really, all I know is that we're not in the Elemental Nations. Whatever he did sent us to an entirely new universe or dimension."

Gaara didn't even flinch, or show any kind of outward reaction for that matter. "I see." He responded.

Shukaku instantly knew the reason for this... lack of reaction. Simply put, there was nothing for him in the Elemental Nations. He had no friends, and anyone new people he met were always scared of him. Even his own family was scared of him. His father tried to assassinate him six seperate times, and both his siblings were too scared of him to like him in the slightest. There was nothing to miss.

And Shukaku knew it was all his fault. Well, not entirely, and it was time to explain. "Gaara..." Shukaku said in his deep, rumbling voice.

Gaara responded in his normal cold, emotionless voice. "What?"

"You should know... that voice you heard for all those years... that wasn't me." Shukaku explained.

Gaara's eyes widened with shock. Finally his voice began to waver as he responded. "Wh-what do you mean?"

Shukaku began his story. "Many years before I was sealed inside you, Suna had no person to seal me into, and they were growing desperate. Finally, they decided to seal me into a lamp, but to do so they needed someone adept at sealing jutsu."

"The person they happened to call in to perform the sealing was an old monk. Now, I don't know what the guy was thinking, but he somehow sealed himself inside the lamp with me. Over the years, the monk slowly fused together with me, and the in process drained most of my power."

Gaara slowly shook his head, trying to comprehend the new information he was being told. "No way... so you mean..."

Shukaku nodded. "It's true... the voice you heard for all those years was not me... it was the monk."

Gaara finally got over his shock and proceeded with the conversation. "So where is the monk now?" He asked.

Shukaku was fairly surprised at Gaara's quick return to reality, but he put it down to the boy becoming so jaded early in his life that not many things would affect him. "That strange jutsu bone kid used somehow got rid of him and returned my power. I don't know how, but that's a really good thing for two reasons."

Gaara went back to his emotionless stare and monotone voice. "And what two reasons are those?"

Shukaku gave off a small smirk as he responded. "First off, that annoying voice in your head is long gone, so that's a bonus for you and me since I had to listen to that bastard too. Second of all, since my power has returned and I'm able to assist you without hindrance, your control over sand should be far better now."

Gaara looked up at Shukaku and bowed his head for a brief moment. "Thank you. That will prove to be very useful, should I need to fight. Perhaps this world is one without conflict..." He said in a wishful tone.

Shukaku slowly shook his head. "It doesn't appear to be so... I can briefly tune in to what you see and hear, even while you're unconscious. I did that just a few minutes ago actually, and let me tell you, there's going to be a fair share of conflict."

Gaara looked at the ground. "Well, I suppose it can't be helped. When do I wake up?"

Shukaku gave off an uncaring shrug. "Whenever you want really. But there's one thing you should do before you go."

"What is it?" Gaara responded.

Shukaku put his paws together in a ram seal and closed his eyes. A second later, a scroll poofed into existence out of a small plume of smoke in front of Gaara. Gaara took a skeptical glance at the scroll at his feet and then looked back at Shukaku. "What is this?" He asked.

Shukaku grinned. "It's the tanuki summoner's contract. With me being the summon boss, I can give the contract out to people. And you're the first person whose ever going to be able to sign it! You should feel lucky." The tailed beast explained excitedly.

Gaara picked the scroll up and unrolled it. It wasn't very long, only about the length of a sheet of regular paper. On it read:

 _Tanuki Summoner's Contract:_

 _Sages:_

 _Summoners:_

Gaara scanned the scroll over and then looked back at Shukaku. "What's the difference between a sage and a summoner?" He asked.

"Everyone will start as a summoner. Your name on the contract will automatically move under the sage section once you master the tanuki sage mode. That is, if you ever do." Shukaku explained.

Gaara inwardly smirked. _Sage mode... Like that ridiculous sensei of Naruto. It's undoubtedly powerful though, perhaps I should attempt to learn such a thing._ Gaara thought. Signing the contract with the pen that had appeared with the contract, he put the scroll back down. It promptly disappeared with another poof of smoke.

He turned around from the viewing window where he was talking to Shukaku. "I think I'll wake up now. Farewell."

WITH TEAM NATSU, A FEW MINUTES EARLIER

Things were not going so smoothly for the alliance of light guilds. First the conflict of the trimen and... everyone, then Gray and Lyon, Lucy and Sherry, the list just went on and on. Ichiya was already down for the count, his strangely shaped head frozen into a block of ice by Lyon. Lucy was being terrorized by Sherry's doll magic, turning the carpet into a monster.

But all this promptly stopped when Iron Rock Jura walked in the room. He slammed his staff on the ground and pronounced in a booming voice that carried throughout the room. "Stop this at once! We are here to defeat the Oracion Seis, not fight among ourselves!"

Immediately, Lyon and Sherry stopped what they were doing and turned to the new arrival. "Yes, Jura."

Hearing the name, the other wizards in the room turned their attention to him almost instantly. "So that's him..." Erza muttered. "Lamia Scale's top dog..." Said Eve. "Iron Rock Jura." Finished Hibiki.

Natsu blankly stared at the bald man as he walked further into the room. "Who?" He asked, turning to Happy.

"He's one of the ten wizard saints, Natsu!" Happy responded. Beside him, Lucy heard the comment and decided to add in her own two cents. "Yeah, which means he's kind of a big deal."

Jura took stepped closer to the group, his eyes scanning them over. "So it seems we have members from three guilds. The representatives from Cait Shelter have yet to arrive."

"Yes... about that," began Ichiya, who had miraculously thawed out from the block of ice. "I hear they're only sending one member."

Erza raised a questioning eyebrow. "Only one member?" She asked.

Gray was shocked by the news. "That's insane!" He shouted. "We're supposed to be up against one of the most powerful dark guilds in Fiore and they're only sending one person?!"

Lucy was a little more freaked out by the revelation. "One? If that's for real, how crazy powerful is this guy gonna be?!" She wondered out loud.

Suddenly the group began to hear a scraping noise behind them, coming from the door. The sound was accompanied by soft grunts of effort and panting from exhaustion. The people in the mansion turned around to face the door, only to see the back of long, blue hair. Underneath the hair was a striped yellow and blue dress that went down to the person's mid-thighs. On the person's feet were small blue slippers and around her ankles there were feathery wings attached by a band.

But the strangest thing about the newcomer was what she seemed to be dragging along with her. It was a kid. A boy. He had red hair, a little lighter in hue than Erza's. He wore a pitch black body suit, but the upper half of his body was covered by a beige, turtle-neck cloak. The body suit went down to his mid calves, and on his feet he wore sandals that covered everything but his toes. In between his sandals and the body suit was just covered by bandages. White scarves of linen wrapped around his body and the held the gourd on his back firmly in place, and the excess flowed off his body. A leather strap went around his body from right waist to left shoulder. It held multiple pouches on it and strangely enough, a headband with an hourglass logo imprinted on it.

 **(I tried my best, but appearance explanations are hard. If you want a picture of it, imagine the clothes he wore during the chuunin exams, but add on the half cloak he wore when he was a little kid. Wendy is just in her regular clothes.)**

The blue haired person who they all presumed to be a girl dragged the red haired boy by his arm, which they noticed was not covered by the body suit. With a clearly relieved sigh she let go of his arm and stopped dragging him. She moved her hand up to her forehead and wiped the sweat, before turning to face them.

As if she had forgotten they were even watching her while she was dragging the boy into the mansion, she instantly became timid. She tucked her hands behind her back and looked at them nervously. "H-hi... uh... sorry I arrived so late... I couldn't just leave him there on the road... but I didn't know what to do so I brought him with me... erm... I'm Wendy Marvel by the way, I'm from the Cait Shelter guild!"

The members of the alliance stared at her blankly. Many thoughts were running through their heads. Why would Cait Shelter send one person? Why would Cait Shelter send a little girl? What were they thinking?!

"A little girl..." said Gray.

"Just a kid?!" exclaimed Lucy and Sherry.

And alas, the trimen were already at work. "Wendy..." began Ren. "Marvel _ous_ " continued eve. "Cute..." finished Hibiki.

Meanwhile Natsu just looked at the little girl strangely. It felt like he remembered her from somewhere, he just couldn't remember exactly.

Jura decided enough was enough. "Now then. Since all guilds are present, we can begin planning for our assault on Oracion Seis." He said, turning to the side stoically.

Gray's jaw dropped at the man's obliviousness. "HE'S NOT EVEN PHASED BY THIS?!" He exclaimed.

Sherry turned away and crossed her arms. "Hmph. What was Cait Shelter thinking? Sending a little girl alone on this kind of job?!"

She didn't really expect to be answered, but she was. "She isn't alone! You shouldn't assume such things you gaudy trollop!" The voice said. It sounded arrogant and snobbish, but strangely... high pitched.

The wizards in the room turned to the door only to see... a white happy? The cat had white fur and wore a yellow striped shirt. It had a pink bow on it's tail and a red skirt to match.

Wendy turned around to the cat as if she were surprised to see her there. "Carla? You followed me here?"

The cat who could now be identified as Carla hmphed and crossed her arms. "Of course I did! You're much too young to be traveling by yourself." The cat said in a very motherly tone.

The cat then looked down at the unconscious red haired boy. "And who's this?" She asked Wendy, putting her paws on her hips.

Wendy brought her balled up hands in front of her mouth. She was trembling, signifying her nervousness. "Erm... well... I found him just laying there on the road... and I couldn't just leave him there..." She explained in a shaky voice.

Carla shook her head. "You know better than this, child! He could be dangerous!" She exclaimed.

Wendy looked like she was on the verge of tears. "B-but Carla, he w-was injured and-"

"YOU HEALED HIM?!" Carla shouted, shocking the mages of the alliance. "Wendy Marvel, you know how much magic that costs you, that was a very foolish idea."

Wendy put her head down in shame. "I'm sorry Carla..."

At this point, Erza decided to intervene. "Wendy, you can use healing magic? Is that not a lost magic? Where did you learn it?" She asked.

Wendy looked up at her and smiled. "Y-yeah, I can use healing magic... I may not be much of a fighter... but please don't leave me out of the group! I can use all kinds of support magic!" said Wendy.

"You're never going to gain their respect if you keep acting like this child! Show some confidence! And you should really start using your dragon slayer magic for something other than support magic..." Carla said as if she were scolding a child.

"YOU'RE A DRAGON SLAYER!?" Natsu suddenly shouted.

Meanwhile, Jura, Ichiya, and Erza were all simultaneously thinking the same thing. _So that's what the strange magical energy inside the girl is..._

Natsu rushed up to the girl and leaned in close to her face. "Do you know where Igneel is?!" He asked her.

But the sudden closeness of Natsu caused her to become flustered. She leaned back a little too far and tripped over her own two feet. With a cute squeal of 'EEEK!' and a huge show of flailing arms, she fell over backwards.

Right onto the sleeping red haired kid. With a groan of pain she rolled off him and onto her back right beside him. It didn't even occur to her that she might've waken him up. So when she turned her head to the side as she got up, she didn't anticipate seeing two pale green eyes staring right back at her.

With the second squeak of the day, she bolted up onto her feet and backpedaled away from the boy. She bowed her head at him. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to wake you up!" she apologized.

But Carla had no such thoughts. As soon as she saw the boy wake up, she flew right over his head and stared down at him with an angry expression. "Who are you?" She asked in an expectant tone.

Gaara looked up at the flying cat above him. _A flying, talking cat. Interesting._ He thought. He took a look around at the other people in the room, also looking at him expectantly. _It must be a normal thing for them, seeing as how they aren't giving a reaction._ He figured. Eventually, he decided giving them his name wouldn't hurt, given the fact he was in an entirely new dimension. "Gaara." He stated, his tone monotone and emotionless.

The cat above him hmphed and put her paws on her hips. "Well, _Gaara_ , I think you should say thank you to Wendy over there. She wasted her time on healing you." The cat said, pointing a paw at a blue haired girl not to far away from him.

Gaara maintained his gaze on the cat for a moment. _What an obnoxious cat._ He thought. He then turned his head to Wendy. "Thank you." He said.

The cat nodded it's head as if to say 'My work here is done', and flew away. Gaara slowly got off the floor, using his hands to push himself up. Meanwhile, Wendy watched him get up with a shocked expression, as if she thought it were impossible for him to get off the ground. Erza noticed this and turned to her. "What's wrong, Wendy?" She asked.

Wendy didn't even look at her, instead just staring at the red haired boy who was now standing upright, brushing the dirt off his clothes. She pointed a finger at him. "I-I don't know how he's even s-standing right now! I could barely move him when I brought him here, that thing on his back must weigh at least four hundred pounds!" She exclaimed.

Erza turned to the boy, who was standing perfectly fine, as if there were nothing strapped to his back at all. She studied him closely. _There's something strange about this kid. He looks no older than Wendy here, and yet he can lift that container on his back with no problems. I can't even sense magic from him._

She looked over to the group, and noticed Jura and Ichiya seemed to be having similar thoughts, judging by their expressions. But something caught her attention. Natsu. He was... growling. And not just in general. He was growling _at_ the red haired kid who had just got up.

Lucy noticed her friend's strange behavior and nudged him, gaining his attention. "Natsu? Why are you growling at him? I know it's amazing and all that he can lift that thing, but I don't think that's a good reason to be jealous or anything..."

Natsu shook his head, not turning his gaze away from Gaara. "It's not that, Lucy... The thing on his back... It smells like blood." He explained, shocking the group.

"Are you sure?" Gray asked, confused as to how and why little kid would be carrying something that smelled like blood.

But Erza wouldn't wait for confirmation. She marched right up to Gaara, drawing her sword all the while. When she was right in front of him, she pointed directly at his face, the point only a few meters away from him. "Why does that container smell like blood!? I demand you answer me!" She shouted at him.

Gaara stared at her. To him, this seemed like the dumbest question in the book. He responded in his usual tone. "Tell me... Does that sword smell like blood after you fight an enemy?" He asked.

Erza blinked. She hadn't anticipated this. "Well... yeah." She answered truthfully. And then she caught on to what he was implying. "Wait... so you're saying that you use that thing to fight?" She asked. Gaara nodded.

Erza seemed to think for a second before asking her next question. "Will you help us?" She finally asked, sheathing her sword.

Gaara stared at her with an emotionless face and unblinking eyes. "With what?" He responded.

Every single person in the room save Gaara face faulted at Erza's expense, but she seemed to take it in stride. "You're about to find out." She answered.

Stepping to the side, she allowed Gaara to see past her into the group. What he saw was Hibiki pulling up his archive magic, displaying six pictures of six different people. He noticed the others gathering around to listen to the little presentation, so he decided to follow their lead and listen in.

"These" Hibiki began.

"Are the Oracion Seis."


	2. CH-2: Light mages never kill, right?

Gaara listened intently to what Hibiki had to say. But to be honest, he didn't think to highly of their intel. All the pretty boy had to tell them was their code names and some stupid little descriptions that he seemed to think were amusing. And judging by the others' reactions, apparently it was. To them at least.

Already, Gaara was starting to dislike his 'team'. In his opinion, it only really consisted of thick headed loud mouths. At first he considered helping the people out for their assistance to him earlier, but after seeing them talk amongst themselves, he quickly decided against that. So instead, he decided to strike them a little bargain.

He thought of what he currently needed. _Shelter?... Sort of. I'm an insomniac anyways so it isn't as important as some other things. Sustenance? That I do need. Money? Whatever their currency is, i'm most definitely going to need it. Other than that... perhaps just a pointer to the nearest city? That wouldn't be too bad. I need to learn things about this place. Things I'm expected to know if the question arises. Maybe I should ask Wendy. She did help me directly after all. And she doesn't seem nearly as... eccentric as the others._

Wendy, along with Jura and Gray were the only people he could really stand. Wendy, while timid at times, was generally rather intelligent and polite. And most importantly she didn't constantly talk. Jura seemed like more of a military kind of man. Rational. Disciplined. Efficient. Gaara could respect that as a shinobi. And Gray? Well, if he was being honest with himself, it was more of the fact that he hadn't found anything particularly _wrong_ with him yet. Though he was fairly certain he would in the future.

People he hated in particular? Natsu, obviously. Very loud, talks a lot, and overall extremely unintelligent. Three things that Gaara very much disliked. Perhaps it was also because their motivations seemed to be exactly opposite of each other. While Natsu yelled and boasted about fighting for and protecting his 'Nakama', Gaara fights only for himself. The kanji for 'Love' inscribed upon his forehead is direct proof of that commitment.

Next up on his list, both the cats. Carla was just straight annoying. Talking as if she were higher than everyone else, he couldn't stand being near her. Happy on the other hand he disliked mainly for the same reasons as he did Natsu. With the added factor of him having a rather rediculous name in his opinion.

And last but certainly not least, Erza. The hypocrit to end all hypocrits. Accuses him of being some sort of murderer while pointing a sharp sword directly at his face the entire time. Oh, and also the trimen and their dumbass boss, or whatever they called him. Pretty obvious reasons there.

But as he listened to their plan, he began to think less and less of the Blue Pegasus guild. _So we're going to try and take them out in one shot. This plan is terrible. It relies on ALL six of them being in their hideout at the same time, and we don't even know where said hideout is. Second of all, we're placing all our eggs in one basket, so to speak. If something happens to that 'bomber', the entire plan goes out the window. Absolutely pathetic..._

After the plan was explained, Jura stepped in the front of the group give a small speech. "Each one of the Oracion Seis is capable of destroying an entire guild by themselves. Under no circumstances should you EVER consider fighting one of them one on one. Always fight in pairs." Jura commanded them all.

Gaara mentally nodded. _This man knows what he's talking about. Using our superior numbers against them. Basic military tactics. Perhaps I should ask him for supplies instead?... No, that magenta haired woman is constantly rambling about her stupid ideas-_

 _"Hey kid."_

Gaara heard Shukaku speaking to him. Normally he would've ignored the voice, but his recent discoveries of Shukaku's true intentions reminded him not to. _"What is it?"_ He mentally responded.

 _"That annoying square head guy is not the same guy from earlier."_

Gaara cautiously peered at Ichiya. _"How can you tell? He seems normal."_

 _"Every tailed beast has the ability to sense malicious intent. Before he went to the washroom or whatever, his malicious intent was non-existant. Now though, it's through the roof. He's either an imposter, or he plans on betraying you lot in the next few moments."_

 _"What do you recommend I do?"_ Gaara responded mentally.

 _"I'd wait for him to make his move, then counter it. If you attack him out of the blue the people around you might immediately turn on you without giving you time to explain."_

 _"I see. Thank you for the advice."_ Gaara answered and closed the mental link with Shukaku.

Gaara refocused on the people in front of him only to see two remaining. Jura and Ichiya. He turned his head and looked through the open front door and saw the backs of the rest of the alliance. He sighed. _These idiots. Completely ignoring the plan they JUST had explained to them!_

"Well, at least you two stayed..." Said Jura behind him. He sighed in exasperation. "I'm getting far too old for this..."

Gaara didn't turn his head but rather turned his eyes in Jura's direction. "I agree... we should catch up to them before they get too far ahead of us." He added on.

But Ichiya decided that now was the time to strike a pose. He leaned back and pointed at them. "Slow your roll chrome dome, ginger head." He said in his strange Ichiya voice.

Jura turned around and stared questioningly at the small man. Gaara narrowed his eyes at him, glaring ominously. He would've responded, but the man of many parfumes kept speaking.

"I've heard the great vine that you're a wizard saint, is that true?" He asked, still in his rediculous pose.

Gaara looked from Ichiya to Jura. "What is a wizard saint?" He asked in the regular monotone.

"A wizard saint is the title bestowed by the magic council, and there can only ever be ten wizard saints at one time. They are known as being some of the most powerful wizards in Fiore. And indeed it is true that I am one." Jura explained and answered at the same time.

Gaara now had a few ideas as to why Ichiya stayed behind with Jura. _If he is some sort of imposter, he's certainly trying to take down the group's most powerful member before the fight even begins. But if this is supposedly one of the most powerful mages on Fiore, whether that is a country, continent, or the planet, I would imagine taking him on would be difficult. There has to be more to it, I'll just have to wait._

Ichiya changed poses, albeit just as strange. "I see, it's an honour working with someone as skilled as Master Makarov."

Jura put his hands up in a stop position. "Whoa now, I wouldn't go that far. While it is true that we are both members of the Ten Wizard Saints, comparing Master Makarov and I would be like comparing a grain of sand to a boulder. I'm sure you can figure out which one applies to me." Jura explained.

As it turned out, Gaara didn't even have to wait that long. He noticed Ichiya turn away from the two of them, as to hide whatever he was doing from their vision. He quickly activated his Opening of the Third Eye technique, allowing him to see what the strange little man was doing.

Ichiya prepared one of his tubes filled with perfume, gaining a ominous glint in his eyes. "I see... that might've been the best news I heard all day..." He spoke in a cryptic manner. He reached the tip of his thumb to the cork in the bottle and slipped it off.

Almost immediately Jura started grabbing at his nose, eyes going wide and bloodshot. "Th-that smell! What are you doing Ichiya!?" He shouted.

But that was when Gaara struck. Seeing Ichiya's attack in advanced through his third eye, he made makeshift noseplugs out of his sand and used them to block out his sense of smell, rendering Ichiya's attack completely useless. He deftly sent his sand forward, grabbing the bottle and forming a cork out of sand to block it once again. He grabbed the small tube of paralyzing parfume and his sand promptly shot back into the gourd on his back. With a small smirk Gaara spoke. "It seems I was correct..."

Jura shakily rose from the floor and grabbed his staff, which he'd dropped to the floor earlier. He leveled the staff directly at Ichiya. "What's going on Ichiya! What is this?!" He shouted at him in an angry tone.

Ichiya gave off a small giggle that was very uncharacteristic of him. "Oh dear, it seems we've been found out!" He said. A second later, Ichiya disappeared in a poof of smoke. Out of the small plume of smoke appeared two tiny, bug like beings. They both had thing mouths, shaped like V's. One right side up, the other upside down. They also had a leather strap running across their bodies and a pair of shorts, one orange and one black

"Piri... Piri..." One of them spoke. The other one began talking not to soon after. "We're back to normal!" It said.

"That guy's head was so gross... filled with perverted stuff!" The first added on. The second responded not to long after. "I know, don't remind me brother."

"Yeah, grown ups can be so-"

But it didn't get to finish. Gaara had quickly had enough of the high pitched creatures that had appeared in front of him. His sand sped towards the two at undodgeable speeds, spearing them both through the gut. But unlike blood, like he expected, the two just disappeared into yellow particles.

He turned to Jura, who now stood beside him with a grim expression on his face. "Do you know what those two things were?" Gaara asked him.

Jura nodded his head. "Indeed I do. Those were celestial spirits, and powerful ones at that. The most likely explaination is that one of the Oracion Seis is a celestial spirit summoner. The real Ichiya is probably inside somewhere, I'll go look for him. I'll catch up with you as soon as possible." Jura explained to Gaara.

But before the bald man could leave, Gaara had to ask one more question. "Does it matter if the enemy is recovered alive?" He asked in a emotionless, cold tone. It unnerved the wizard saint quite a bit.

Jura responded without even turning around. "You should not hold back against these foes. Fight with your full strength, and if they should perish, it would be understandable." He answered, and walked inside the building to look for their fallen comrade.

Gaara turned around and walked in the direction he saw the group going earlier. He smirked. The only reason he asked was because it was made clear he was the group's defacto leader by the title of wizard saint. Should he want any sort of reward for helping them, he would have to follow their rules, and by default, their leader's rules. But that was the good part. There were no rules. He was free to do whatever he wanted.

WITH NATSU AND COMPANY

Everyone in the crew ran behind Natsu, only due to the fact that he had a head start and was in front of the rest. Of course, he had run off a cliff, but that was obstacle for someone like him. He honestly had no idea where he was running to, but he assumed their base would be in the direction he was moving, so he continued on his current path.

But that was when they saw it. Christina, the Magical Bomber. He abruptly stopped, looking up and watching the massive airship. Gray however did not have fast enough reaction times to be able to stop before hitting Natsu. Which he did. The two went down in a heap.

Almost as fast as they went down they were back up, head to head and glaring at each other. "SO WE'RE PLAYIN' DIRTY NOW, HUH?!" Natsu screamed into Gray's face.

"IF I WANTED TO FIGHT YA, I'D HAVE KICKED YOUR ASS ALREADY!" Replied Gray, equally as loud.

The two were abruptly stopped by Erza, who had magically appeared between the two and roughly shoved their faces away from each other. "Focus!" She sternly told them both.

It was then that the rest of the group noticed the yacht sized airship floating steadily above their heads. They all stared at it with wide eyes and open mouths. "The magical bomber... Christina!" Erza announced.

Gray watched it go past them with a smirk. "It definetly lives up to it's name, that's for sure!" He added on.

Natsu peered at it with a twinkle in his eye. "IT'S SOOOO COOL! I WANT ONE!" He exclaimed.

Lucy, Wendy, and the cats also watched the giant airship. "Whoa..." Lucy breathed out. "It's gigantic!"

Happy was equally as amazed, but at the same time far less... intelligent about it. "Horses can fly too?..." He muttered, in both confusion and amazement.

Carla sighed in exasperation at Happy's words. "Please refrain from speaking further, blue cat." She scolded him.

As Christina flew over the edge of the cliff they were standing on, Erza began to bark out orders. "We need to split up and begin searching for their temporary base. It would be optimal to team up with out guildmates, in order to maximize teamwork and efficiency. Wendy will go with Lamia Scale, since they're a person short. Let's go!"

But as it turns out, Erza's plan would not work as she... planned. Almost instantly after Erza gave out her orders to the others, Christina began to explode. Little plumes of fire and smoke began to appear randomly across the surface of the once great airship, and pieces of the hull and other things began to fall off.

The ship eventually began to spiral downwards. It was truly tragic. The majestic airship modeled after a pegasus, shot to shit and descending into a horrible crash landing. As it hit the ground it caused a massive explosion right at the foot of the cliff the group was standing on, leaving them with shocked and fearful expressions.

Hibiki looked in horror at the wild fire and smoke their magnificent ship had become. "What happened?!" He shouted, half angry and half scared.

Lyon gritted his teeth. "This doesn't bode well for us..." If they could take down their ace in the hole without even trying, how would their group of ten some odd wizards have a chance?

Natsu sniffed the air. He turned towards the cliff face that was currently covered with thick smoke. "Gray..." He growled out.

Gray understood his friends meaning immediately. "I know..." He said, getting into a ready stance. "We've got company."

Then, slowly but surely, all six of the Oracion Seis came through the smoke and ash, directly into the vision of the alliance. Most of them wore confident, borderline arrogant smirks upon their faces. The only ones who didn't were Midnight, who was asleep, and Brain, who looked stoic as ever. Angel's celestial spirit, Gemini, hovered beside her head, shaking their arms in a childlike manner.

Brain spoke in a gravelly, deep voice. "So, the lowly maggots have swarmed together... amusing..."

"Unfortunately short stack won't be joining us..." Angel said, half laughing as she did so. She turned to the spirit of twins beside her head, as if she expected them to do something.

The two in question looked extremely nervous at that moment, shaking slightly. "Err..." The first one began awkwardly. "The... uh... tall wizard saint is... erm... slowed down?" The second one finished, equally as uncomfortable.

Angel growled at them, shaking her head in disappointment. "Must I do everything myself!?" She shouted at them angrily.

At this little interaction the group of light mages grinned. At least something was going their way if they were fighting among themselves. "It seems Jura was too much for your spirit, huh?" Lyon said with a smirk. "He isn't a wizard saint for nothing you know!"

"YEAH! AND WE'LL HAVE YOU GUYS WRAPPED UP IN JUST A MINUTE!" Natsu yelled at them.

The celestial spirit tried to defend itself. "But Angel..." The first one began. "there were more people there than you said there'd be! If it weren't for that creepy kid, it would've gone fine!"

Angel didn't seem to get any less angry. "It shouldn't matter who's there! How hard is it to beat one person when he doesn't even have his guard up?!"

Now the alliance members were confused. That creepy kid. Were they talking about Gaara? That strange red head Wendy saved on her way here? _He_ had to save Jura? He could deal with something a wizard saint couldn't? How could one kid be that strong?

Erza turned to Gray. "Is she talking about Gaara?" She asked in confusion.

Gray shrugged. "I don't know. Probably though, who else would she be talking about?" He responded, also surprised by the news.

Natsu just started laughing. "I guess Wendy's decision to bring him along was a good one then, huh?" He stated jovially. Then he turned to Wendy. "Nice job Wendy!" He shouted to her, giving her a thumbs up as well.

Wendy smiled shyly. "Thanks Natsu..." She responded in a quiet tone, holding her arms behind her back timidly.

Natsu turned his gaze back to the six members of Oracion Seis. His expression changed to a serious one. "But now it's time to fight."

Turning to Gray, who also turned to him, he grinned and nodded. "Let's go!" He shouted at his fellow Fairy Tail wizard.

The ice and fire duo charged full tilt at the six dark mages standing opposite them, grinning in anticipation all the while. Brain however, maintained his calm expression. "Racer." He said, not even looking in the said mage's direction.

Racer gave no inclination that he heard the commander's orders except for a slight mumble of: "Yes sir." He suddenly disappeared from view, much to the two wizards of Fairy Tail's shock.

The speed demon was only visible for brief periods as he moved towards the two incoming mages at impossible speeds. With one final appearance he arrived behind them as they ran. He unleashed a devastating kick on the two of them at the same time. " **MOTOR!** " He shouted.

Natsu and Gray were sent reeling back, both landing in a heap at the feet of the rest of the alliance, who could only stand and gawk at Racer's speed. Lucy stared at her two friends in shock at being knocked down so easily. "Natsu! Gray!" She shouted in worry.

But what confused her was the second voice coming from right beside her, and it was identical to hers. She turned to the direction of the voice, only to see an exact replica of herself, in the exact same position, saying the exact same thing.

Her moment of confusion was quickly shaken off when the clone of herself gained a malicious smirk and grabbed it's whip off the belt it had on, identical to Lucy. The clone began to viciously whip the poor original, laughing the entire time. Meanwhile Lucy just ran away, flailing her arms while crying out: "WHY THE HELL AM I WHIPPING MYSELF?!"

Over on the Lamia Scale side of things, it was going no better. Lyon and Sherry had tried to team up on the Oracion Seis member 'Hoteye', but it was to no avail. Their combined attacks of Marionette: Doll Attack, and Ice Make: Eagles, was no match for Hoteye's overpowering earth magic. He simply overcame their powers with sheer force, and proceeded to trap them in some sort of quicksand.

The pathetic trimen had been taken out all ready. All three had just made a mad dash for Angel, every one of them claiming: "I'll take care of Angel!". Well as it turned out, their plans were cut short. As they were running, Racer simply sped in between them, knocking them out with one blow each. He was too fast for them to even see.

With the rest of the crew knocked out, it left only Erza. She lept up high above Cobra, requipping into her Heaven's Wheel armour as she did so. Cobra just smirked and did nothing, watching her set up her attacks unhindered. "Dance, my swords!" She called out, summoning over fifty swords around her, all pointing at Cobra and his pet snake.

Just a moment later, the swords shot towards Cobra in a cluster, as if it were raining swords in that specific area. Cobra barely moved more than an inch at a time as he dodged the swords. Barely adjusting his posture every time a new sword came near him to dodge each one by a hair.

Erza stared at the maroon haired man standing in the middle of what looked like a graveyard made of swords. "Impossible! He dodged them all?! Can he predict my attacks?" She questioned out loud.

But she was quickly thrown back into the action as Racer suddenly appeared behind her and launched a kick at her back. She managed to turn around and block the attack with her two swords just in time. Deciding she needed to be faster to be able to fight Racer effectively, she requipped into her flight armour, dramatically increasing her speed.

Erza followed Racer relentlessly, swiping at him every chance she got with her twin daggers. But Racer seemed to be able to dodge them all easily. He leaned and swerved around her attacks as if they were slower than one hundred pound weights. He laughed. "That's more like it!"

She heard Cobra speaking in the background. "It's no use, I can hear your moves before you even make them, Titania!" He called out. He dashed in front of her, hitting her with an upwards kick and sending her flying backwards.

Erza's eyes widened at what he said. _"I can hear your moves..." So he IS reading me! But how?!_ She thought furiously.

Brain smirked as he saw Lyon and Sherry try and fail yet again at taking on Hoteye. At the same time, Natsu was once again knocked down by Racer, this time fully unconscious. Gray had been incapacitated by a cheeky Gemini, sneaking up behind him and using one of his own spells against him. Finally his gaze turned to where Erza and Cobra were fighting.

Erza was swiping madly at Cobra, who dodged her attacks with ease, not even bothering to remove his hands from his pockets. Eventually he seemed to get bored, and just grabbed both of Erza's daggers by the hilts. Brain inspected the red haired woman closely. _I see... so this is the famed Erza Scarlet._

Something he remembered from earlier however caused him to begin wondering about something else. _Who is this 'Gaara'? Angel's spirit claimed he was able to defend Jura, who is a wizard saint. Perhaps we should be worried about such a person?..._ Brain turned his focus back on the fight in front of him.

The sight in front of him pleased him greatly. Every single alliance member lay on the ground, save the ones who weren't there. Most were barely conscious, and some were fully unconscious, but to him it didn't matter in the slightest. "Pathetic!" He exclaimed loudly, enough so that they could all hear. "Prepare yourselves for oblivion, weak children of light!"

He lifted his skull-headed staff high in the air, and a purple magic circle appeared in front of the skull. Dark energy began to flow out of the ground and into the magic circle, which scared a few of the alliance members.

"What is this magic?! It feels so dark and evil..." Sherry weakly stated.

Natsu gritted his teeth, still laying on the ground. "Damnit... I can't move anymore!"

Gray glared at the leader of Oracion Seis. "Me... neither..." He growled out.

The spell seemed to pick up even more dark energy as if progressed. " **DARK RONDO!** "Brain yelled in a loud voice. But as he was casting the spell, something in the corner of his vision caught his eye. A little spot of blue hair sticking out from behind a rock, with a pair of eyes peeking over the surface. Two cats stood beside the rock, who seemed to want to protect the person behind it. The girl peeked out of little more, enough so that her face was visible. "Wendy..." Brain breathed out, staring at the girl. He put down his staff, cancelling the spell.

Brain looked over at their boss. "What's the matter, Brain? You gonna cast the spell or not?" He asked in a rather impatient tone.

Cobra followed up. "You know that girl or something" He asked, although not with the same impatient tone as Racer.

Brain watched the blue haired girl intently. "There's no doubt about it. It's Wendy, the Maiden of the Sky." He stated in a deadly serious voice.

Wendy put her hands on her head, as if she couldn't remember what that title meant. Tears welled up in the corners of her eyes. "What does that mean?!" She asked, mostly to herself.

Brain smiled gleefully. "To think we've just stumbled across her here. We've made quite the catch my friends." He told his guildmates. Leveling the staff towards the rock that Wendy was hiding behind, he called out in the same loud voice he used to cast his other spell. "Grab her!"

A bright green beam of energy shot out of the end of Brain's staff and went straight for Wendy. It swerved around the rock she was hiding behind and suddenly morphed into a hand, grabbing the poor girl. The hand promptly retracted, pulling her towards the staff. "Help!" She screamed. Carla chased after her, but her short, stubby cat legs couldn't carry her fast enough. "Unhand her you fiend!" She yelled furiously at Brain.

But Carla didn't need to help. When Wendy was about halfway to being sucked into the staff, a stream of sand came out of nowhere, cutting the green energy where the hand's wrist would be. Wendy began to fall to the ground, but the sand quickly darted under her, softly carrying her to the ground.

The sand gently set her on the grass, before immediately flying at supersonic speeds back towards the main trail they were walking on before to get to the clearing where they now were. Everyone's eyes followed where the sand went, and eventually their gazes fell upon the newcomer, Gaara.

He walked down the path with his arms crossed, face emotionless, and eyes cold. None of them were actually able to follow the speed of his sand as it returned to him, but they assumed it had gone into the container on his back.

As he reached the clearing, his eyes scanned all the downed alliance wizards, head not moving an inch. Eventually his gaze settled on Wendy, who was staring back at him wordlessly. He hadn't been on the battlefield for too long, only about fifteen seconds in fact, but already he knew that Wendy was the highest priority target for the enemy.

He quickly grabbed her with his sand, eliciting a small squeal of surprise from the young dragon slayer. He placed her down behind him. Quick as ever, the sand retracted back into his gourd, and the cork sealed it off immediately after.

Brain watched the whole scene play out with a fair amount of interest. _This one is different from the rest. That look in his eyes... the look of someone who has seen the darkness. He also seems smarter than the rest. He already noticed what our priorities are, and is already trying to counter it. He's a sand mage I suppose. Most sand mages are atrocious at close combat, so Racer would be the obvious choice here._

He was pulled out of his thoughts by a growl from Cobra beside him, gaining his attention. "Brain... this kid is weird... I can't read him. At all. It's like there isn't a single thought in his head." He said.

Brain stroked his chin. "Interesting..." He muttered. This was quite the outlier. He never could have anticipated someone like this.

The cork on Gaara's gourd suddenly popped out, landing on the ground with a thud. Sand began to pour out, forming a circle at his feet around him. All the while he kept that same, unnerving expression and posture, as if he couldn't care less about anything.

Meanwhile, the alliance mages watched the kid in shocked silence. _No wonder Wendy couldn't move him, that sand must be heavy as hell! How does he carry it?!_ They realized.

Eventually Brain decided he wasn't going to get anywhere by just waiting. It was clear that the kid opposite him would not attack first. Taking his best option, he issued the same command that he did at the very beginning of the fight. "Racer, go." He said. But with this opponent, he expected the outcome to be somewhat different.

And different it was. Racer once again disappeared from sight, coming into vision once every few seconds for brief periods of time as he moved towards the stationary sand ninja. The mages of the alliance tried to warn him about Racer, but they were just too weak. They could barely even speak, let alone yell. All they could do was watch as Racer got closer and closer to the kid.

When Racer suddenly appeared behind the kid, they assumed it was over. He didn't even turn around! All he did was stand there, still looking at the Oracion Seis, despite there being an attacker directly behind him. " **MOTOR!** " Racer once again yelled, unleashing his devastating roundhouse kick straight towards Gaara's back.

What neither the Oracion Seis or the alliance anticipated however was the sand at Gaara's feet to suddenly shoot up, blocking the kick completely. Gaara hadn't even turned around, or moved a muscle for that matter. All he did was continue to stare forwards as he had been for the entirety of the fight.

Racer growled in annoyance. Some little kid who probably couldn't even run faster than Hoteye had just managed to block one of his fastest attacks. It pissed him off. He began to randomly jump and run around Gaara, attacking with punches and kicks at random.

But it was no good. Every single attack Racer threw at him was completely negated by the sand, without Gaara showing the slightest bit of effort. Eventually Gaara just grew bored with the man trying and failing over and over again to get past the sand shield. Only one person had ever done it, and he wasn't even in this dimension.

Showing the first sign of actually doing something, Gaara raised his hand. Then, when Racer's next attack was blocked, instead of just blocking the attack and stopping, the sand latched itself onto Racer's foot, halting him immediately. Gaara slowly moved his hand until his open palm was facing Racer directly. Racer struggled to move, or at least get out of the way, but it was no use. Gaara's sand was too strong.

" **Sand Coffin.** " Gaara spoke in a monotone voice that either scared or unnerved the members of the alliance greatly. Sand shot out of the ground behind where Racer was immobilized and began to wrap itself around him. Racer frantically flailed around, trying to free himself from the slowly advancing sand but it was to no avail. Eventually, the sand completely covered him, even his face.

Suddenly a loud, slow clap could be heard from one of the Oracion Seis. Cobra. He had a smirk on his face as he sarcastically clapped at Gaara capturing Racer. "Niiiice! You captured our weakest link! What're you gonna do now, light mage? Demand something from us for him back? That's not gonna happen, so you'd might as well set him free, since you can't keep him captive fore-"

" **Sand Burial.** "


	3. CH-3: Gaara of the Desert Sands

**Hey everyone. I'm really sorry about the massive break, but I'm insanely busy over the summer. I do competitive swimming all summer long, along with waterpolo, and a course on swim coaching. All these combined take up 6-7 hours of my day, every weekday, and it's not all in a row either, so I only get 1-2 hour breaks at most. On the weekends I have swim meets that go from 6 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon, so it's really hard to for me to find much time to write. As a side note, I haven't just ditched my other story, but I can only really update one story at a time during the summer so I'm sorry if you like that one better.**

Every last person on the scene apart from Brain and Gaara stared in half shock and half fear as the cocoon of sand that had enveloped racer imploded, crushing the speedster instantly. A small portion of Gaara's sand lazily floated upwards to shield him from the rain of blood that had come with the brutal kill.

The mages of the alliance didn't even seem to register the blood pouring down on them, instead just staring in disbelief at the kid who couldn't be older than the age of thirteen mercilessly crush Racer into oblivion. The scariest part about it wasn't even the method of death. No, it was rather the _lack_ of reaction from Gaara. He clenched his fist and called out his executioners attack like it happened on a daily basis. His regular emotionless face hadn't changed in the slightest. They all expected him to have at least some sort of reaction, be it shocked, remorseful, or saddened. But nobody could've predicted this.

Natsu just couldn't comprehend it. Not one bit. Throughout all his years, even with all the power that he held within his incredible magical abilities, he had not once killed someone. Never. Not one person. But this kid, who was several years younger than him, committed the act as if it were just one of those daily things to do. Had he never been taught that life is precious? To believe in second chances? Or perhaps turning your life around for the better? He would've at least tried to stop the kid, but he was just too weak after fighting the Oracion Seis.

Erza wasn't nearly as revolted as Natsu was, but that didn't mean she wasn't disturbed. She herself had killed people before, but the way she saw it, she was forced to and had no other options. Gaara on the other hand most likely could have kept Racer prisoner, or at least knocked him out. But instead he decided to kill him. At the same time though, there were no outward signs of Gaara being bloodthirsty, or killing Racer 'for the fun of it'. It seemed more like he just saw that as his most efficient option. Erza wondered just where or what could've woven that military-like efficiency into his character.

Gray wondered just where the hell this kid had come from. He'd thought that he himself had a rather shitty past, having his parents and hometown slaughtered by a mindless beast of Zeref, only to have his teacher and guardian killed at a later date by the very same one. But what else could have caused a kid to be able to kill without feelings except his past? What could have happened to him?

The other downed mages of the light guild alliance could only mutter weakly and groan in pain as they watched Gaara kill Racer. Never before had they seen intense violence, and it disgusted them.

"D-did he...?" Hibiki muttered, trembling in fear and shock.

"He killed Racer..." Eve continued, just as surprised as Hibiki.

"There was no love in that..." said Sherry, completely appaled.

Wendy stared at Gaara's unblinking eyes. They were a dull green. Completely devoid of emotion, and it honestly scared her a little. To think that someone her age just killed another human being. Ended his life. Gone forever. But quite possibly the most disturbing part of it was that it could've been her, had Gaara perceived her as an enemy when they first met. Despite all this she was still grateful to him for saving her, and at the same time she was slightly in awe of his skill and prowess in battle. Even her fellow dragon slayer, Natsu, as well as his best friend Gray were unable to even land a hit upon the speedster, and yet Gaara just took him out like he was a common bandit.

Meanwhile, the five remaining members were muttering to each other in confusion over what had just transpired in front of their eyes. Except for Brain. After just one glance at the red headed boy he knew he was different, so the death of Racer didn't come as too much of a shock to the leader of Oracion Seis. After all, it wasn't like he even cared one little bit for the members of his small guild. They were just pawns.

Cobra peered at Gaara skeptically. He was indeed sad about Racer's death, having known him since their time as slaves in the tower of heaven. But years upon years of time as a dark mage had somewhat dulled his senses of camaraderie and friendship to anyone other than Cubellios. "What the hell?! I thought you light mages don't kill people!" He shouted at Gaara. Cobra expected some sort of a response or reaction out of the strange sand mage in front of him, but all he received was the same dull stare and a whole lot of silence. He tried reading Gaara's thoughts, but once again, he wasn't able to get anything.

Angel's expression didn't falter, but inwardly she was analyzing. _So this is the kid that helped out Jura, hmm?... Doesn't really seem like much, although he did just kill Racer. Maybe he's not a light mage! A mercenary of some sort perhaps?..._

Brain smirked and returned to a more relaxed posture. The other members of Oracion Seis looked at him questioningly. "What're you relaxing for?! We're about to fight!" Cobra shouted.

Brain responded in a calm and collected tone. "At the moment we need to retreat and regroup. We need to find a new way to revive 'him', and we cannot afford to suffer any further casualties." He explained to the four remaining generals.

Cobra grit his teeth and turned his head to glare at Gaara, who still wore his emotionless expression. "This ain't over, grinder!" He yelled at him.

Hoteye, put his book back by his side. "Oh yeah! There's money to be had from you, so we'll be back!" He exclaimed.

The remaining three stayed quiet, save the faint noises of a strange man in make-up snoring. Brain slammed his staff down on the ground and a cloud of smoke surrounded the small guild who should probably now be renamed to 'Oracion Cinco'. When the smoke cleared, the five were gone without a trace.

With that little scene over and done with, the downed members of the light guild alliance turned their attention back to Gaara, who didn't even looked phased about the Oracion Seis.

But something else caught their attention. Two running figures coming down the path. One of the figures was tall, bald, and was holding a staff. The other was immensely shorter, and was wearing a white suit. They tried to call out to them, but they were just too weak.

The duo noticed the downed mages lying in the dirt. Ichiya immediately split off from Jura and ran towards them, reaching for one if his parfum vials as he went. Jura turned and went straight to Gaara, stopping just in front of the comparatively shorter kid. "Where are the Oracion Seis?" He asked in a gruff tone.

Gaara didn't mind. He was used to giving mission reports, it was nothing new to him. "The enemy has fled. Apparently it was due to the fact that my abilities are unknown to them, although I suspect an ulterior motive. Racer has been eliminated. The five remaining enemies are Brain, Midnight, Cobra, Angel, and Hoteye. Their priority during our short battle was capturing Wendy, which seems odd to me."

Jura frowned in thought and rubbed his chin. "Interesting... We should pursue the enemy, they are down a man and-" He was cut off by an outburst from Natsu, who had been restored via Ichiya's perfumes.

He marched right up to Gaara and growled, glaring at him angrily. Gaara didn't even look at him, instead choosing to just wait until Jura resumed his plan. This didn't exactly please Natsu.

"WHY'D YOU KILL HIM?! YOU COULDA JUST KNOCKED HIM OUT OR SOMETHING, BUT YOU FREAKIN' KILLED HIM!" Natsu screamed in Gaara's face. Growls and murmurs of agreement could be heard from the crowd of light mages, apart from Wendy, who was still lying on the ground behind Gaara in shock and awe.

Gaara turned to face Natsu. "Why would I keep and enemy alive? It's inefficient." He stated simply.

But this only angered Natsu further. "INEFFICIENT?! DO YOU THINK THIS IS SOME SORT OF GAME?! WE'RE TALKING ABOUT HUMAN LIVES HERE!" Natsu exclaimed, clearly furious.

Gaara brought a hand to his forehead and slowly shook his head in exasperation. "Your childishness annoys me. Go away, idiot." Gaara replied in his regular, cold tone.

Natsu looked just about ready to explode, and he would've, if not for Erza placing a hand on his shoulder. "Natsu..." She whispered to him. "I don't agree with his methods either, but we need to focus on the job right now."

Natsu growled and jerked away. "Fine!" He shouted. "But I'll be watchin' you..." He said, looking at Gaara.

Gaara didn't even return the glance. Instead, he turned to Jura. "I agree with the plan to follow the enemy. However, if I am to continue aiding you in your mission, I would like something in return." Gaara told him.

Jura narrowed his eyes. "Is the expungance of evil in the world not enough of a reward to you?" He questioned.

Gaara didn't flinch. "I couldn't care less about the actual results of this endeavor. But right now what I need is whatever form of currency is used here, food and water, and I also need a few questions answered." He replied.

Jura grit his teeth in frustration. He desperately needed Gaara's help to defeat the Oracion Seis, seeing as how they completely annihilated the rest of his party, so there was really no option here. "Fine. I accept your terms. My guild will provide you with the needed-"

"That's not all, actually." Gaara interjected.

Jura ground his teeth. "What is it now?!" He snarled.

"I would like all the things I have mentioned to be from Wendy, or wherever she may be from." He replied.

Jura raised a non-existent eyebrow and tilted his head to the side slightly. "What? Why? How could that make any difference?" He inquired.

"That doesn't matter right now. Do you accept my terms or not?" Gaara pressured.

Jura turned his head to Wendy, who squeaked at the sudden intense gaze of the wizard saint. "That's for Wendy to decide, I suppose."

Suddenly, Carla jumped up and began floating in front of Gaara. Her hands were on her hips, and she looked just as arrogant and annoying as ever. "Absolutely unacceptable! We will not allow a killer to join us at the guild!" He pronounced clearly.

Gaara walked right past the self-entitled cat and stood directly in front of Wendy. "That's not for you to decide. It's Wendy."

Wendy stared into Gaara's emotionless green eyes and considered her two choices. On one hand, she could deny Gaara's request, and he would leave the group, probably in search of the things he asked for on his own. On the other hand, she could accept his request, and bring him to her guild for the things he asked for. They would be gaining an immensely powerful ally, but at the same time, he was somewhat a loose cannon. Could they really defeat the Oracion Seis without him though? That was what worried her. What if she said no, then they lost? With that in mind, she made her choice.

"I-I accept the deal." She pronounced in a rather shaky voice.

Gaara nodded. "I see. Then we will proceed with Jura's plan.

Carla piped up again. "Wendy Marvel! Just what are you thinking letting a killer like him into our guild hall! What if he goes berserk and kills you? Did you even think before making this decision, child?!" She yelled at Wendy.

But Wendy had finally had enough of Carla's scolding. "Yes, Carla, I did! Gaara saved my life, so obviously he's not just going to kill me! And we really need his help against the Oracion Seis!" She replied.

Realizing she had lost the argument, Carla floated off with her arms crossed, letting out a small huff.

With that, Jura turned to the recovering mages of the light guild alliance. "We will now proceed with our plan! Make sure to stay as a group this time! We cannot engage the Oracion Seis without all our numbers!" Jura called out.

With cheers of agreement and praise, the group set off after the Oracion Seis.

HALF AN HOUR LATER

The alliance was still walking, trying to catch up or at least find the Oracion Seis. They walked in small bunches, divided by guilds. The Fairy Tail wizards walked together in the front, and about ten feet behind them were the weirdos from Blue Pegasus. Behind them was Wendy, accompanied by Carla. In the back was Lamia Scale, and walking behind Lamia Scale was just Gaara, completely isolated and trudging down the path on his own.

Wendy watched him walk with concerned eyes. _He looks... sad, almost. Lonely, I suppose. Maybe he misses his friends and family? I never asked him how he ended up in the middle of that road actually._ After a few more minutes, she decided to go and talk to him.

She stopped walking, not that anyone noticed really. Even Carla kept walking... err, floating. When Gaara passed her, he didn't notice her either. Nobody's ever wanted to converse with him, so someone stopping to talk with him was something he was most definitely not accustomed to.

He would've kept walking, too, if it weren't for Wendy running up to his side. "H-hey Gaara, I just w-wanted to say thanks for saving m-me earlier." Wendy said, not really knowing how to start the conversation.

Gaara replied without looking as he continued to walk down the path with his arms folded like usual. "Think of it as compensation for healing me." He replied.

"So... w-why do you want s-stuff from my guild instead of anyone else's?" She continued in a polite manner, still a little nervous about talking to crimson haired boy.

"Your guild, whatever that is, has the least amount of people that I find annoying so far." Gaara replied simply.

Wendy smiled and blushed softly, while at the same time sporting a faint sweat drop at Gaara's rather simple reasoning. It relieved her that he found herself to be the least annoying of the group. People who killed others, even if it were criminals they were putting down, were few and far between in the land of Fiore, so seeing someone do it so easily put her, along with the entire group at a slight unease. "Well thanks I guess..." Wendy mumbled.

"I need to ask you some questions about our enemy." Gaara stated, immediately moving on to a new topic.

Wendy shrugged. "What do ya want to know?" She asked, looking to the right to see if he was still staring forwards. Lo and behold, he was.

"The one named Cobra called me a 'light mage'. What is that?" Gaara questioned.

Wendy tilted her head and brought a finger to the corner of her mouth, thinking for only a moment before coming up with a suitable response to his question. "I suppose a light mage is a mage who is a member of a legal guild. That's probably the best definition I can think of to be honest." She replied.

Gaara responded almost immediately. "I am unfamiliar with the terms 'mage' and 'guild'. What are they?"

Wendy's mouth gaped wide open for two reasons in particular. One, he displayed what she had thought was magic at the time, and if he doesn't know what a mage is, then just what the hell was he? Second of all, if he doesn't know what a guild is either, then that would mean he isn't a member of one. Which would make him a mercenary. Despite this, she decided to answer the questions properly. "A mage is someone who can use magic. A guild is basically a club for magic users to go to and work together and make friends. There are a ton of guilds around Fiore, and a mage isn't really official until he or she joins one." Wendy explained.

Gaara nodded his head. "I see... but what is 'magic'?"

This time Wendy wasn't so taken aback by Gaara's strange question. She figured if he didn't know what mages or guilds were he wouldn't know what magic was either. But that only raised more questions about how he controlled sand an what not. "Magic is a set of abilities that mages can use that normal people can't. For example, I can heal and buff other people with my magic, and Natsu over there can breath and punch with fire. Almost everybody uses a different kind of magic, and they all vary in usage and power."

Gaara heard the explanation and got lost in thought. _Interesting... so it seems the people here use what they call 'magic', instead of chakra and jutsu. If almost everyone has a different form of magic, there must be a huge range of what it can do. But I don't think it's as strong as my jutsu. After all, these morons were saying how the people we just fought were some of the most dangerous mages in Fiore, but that idiot who thought he could outrun my sand probably wouldn't even manage to beat the average jounin._

Wendy decided it was time for a question of her own. "If you don't know what magic is, then how do you control sand, Gaara?"

Now this put Gaara in a tough situation. He had two options. One, he could tell Wendy about his whole situation with being sent to another world. Most likely she wouldn't believe him, and if she did, it would only draw more attention to himself when he really didn't need it. Two, he could make something up. But what? How could he explain himself being able to use something similar to magic, without saying he uses magic or chakra? He decided to consult his newly made ally, Shukaku.

 _"Shukaku. Wendy is questioning me about my abilities. She knows already that I do not use what they call 'magic'. What should I do?"_ He mentally asked.

A second later, he heard the rumbling voice of Shukaku speaking in the back of his mind. _"Honestly, I don't really think it'll matter in the long run. But for the sake of what you're doing now, I think you should just push the question aside. It would take too long to explain or make something up anyways."_

Gaara decided on Shukaku's idea. "It's complicated. I'll explain it to you later when I have time." He replied.

Wendy looked a little downtrodden at his response, but otherwise was fine. "Alrighty then." She sighed.

She looked down at her feet and continued the slow, monotonous walk. Really, she didn't have any idea as to where they were even headed, and she suspected that Gaara didn't either. They were just following the Fairy Tail wizards. She also wondered who the Oracion Seis planned on reviving. Perhaps it was Racer? That was the only real possibility she could think of at the moment, although they could have some secret member that they didn't know about.

Suddenly she heard rustling coming out of the brush nearby. She looked up ahead at the other wizards and noticed that Natsu seemed to have also heard it. Nobody else seemed to have any idea as to what it was except for Gaara, strangely. The cork on his gourd had already popped out and sand was beginning to leak out.

Natsu looked around him, which earned a few curious stares from the wizards around him. He grit his teeth. "We've got company, guys." He warned them.

The mages from all the guilds readied themselves, and began to look to the bushes around them for any signs of the enemy that Natsu warned them of. Sure enough, hundreds of figures began to come out of the brush, all of them sporting the same mark and awkward monkey-like qualities.

Two of the strange people walked forwards from the rest. "Hey bro," Began one of them. He had huge monkey ears, an afro, and massive sun glasses. "I got a great idea. Let's show these puny little wizards just how scary the Naked Mummy guild can be." He proposed the idea to his 'bro'.

The other one responded almost immediately. He looked relatively similar to the first, but didnt wear glasses. "I like your idea, bro, but we gotta wait for our team, bro."

Jura looked at the surrounding mages with a stern expression. "The dark guild Naked Mummy. And it sounds like they have some allies. Act with caution." Jura called out to the light mages.

Just as the strange monkey men said, Up on the tree branches, a horde of people with red hoods appeared.

They spoke in unison, almost as if they were some sort of hive mind. "Indeed you should, Naked Mummy guild. But we're not all." They spoke cryptically.

Just as the red hooded mages foretold, even more figures began to appear behind the Naked Mummy guild. They were all dressed in a similar fashion; school uniforms slightly ruffled, and a spike in their hair, reminiscent of a unicorn. The newcomers didn't say anything to announce their presence. They just showed up.

With what seemed like the last dark guild there, the leaders of the Naked Mummy guild began speaking once again. "Now that all our allies are here, can we show them just how terrifying the Naked Mummy guild can be?" He spoke to the ape-looking man beside him.

The man responded. "Yeah bro, let's go show them just how terrifying the Naked Mummy guild can be."

Suddenly all the red hoods on the tree branches pulled out sketchbooks and pens. Jura saw this and called out to his allies worriedly. "Act with caution! They are users of picto magic!"

The Naked Mummy members began to pull out various magical weapons, most of them being guns. The monkey noises and impressions they did afterwards didn't really make them seem any cooler or more badass, although I guess they thought so.

The weirdo's in school uniforms didn't really do anything special, but Gaara assumed they had at least some sort of magic to use. With every enemy within the vicinity, Gaara only needed to ask one final question before he could begin.

"Jura, do these ones need to be kept alive?" He asked to the bald wizard saint. Said man turned around at hearing Gaara's voice.

Jura considered his options. An hour earlier, he would have one hundred percent said no, in fear of Gaara holding back some to keep them alive. But after seeing him dispatch Racer so easily, he fully believe the red head could hold back and still beat them. "That would be preferable." He replied.

Gaara nodded and sat down in a crosslegged position and put his hands together in front of him. Closing his eyes, he began to weave hand signs, muttering or chanting in a low tone all the while. _It seems even Jura can be rather foolish sometimes. I suppose it's some sort of unspoken law not to kill people here. Interesting..._

Meanwhile, the Fairy Tail mages chose to the take on the enemy directly. They dove directly into the fray, swords and fists flailing. Well, apart from Lucy that is. The Lamia Scale wizards focused on taking out the creations of picto magic users, and the Trimen held off the strange wizards in school uniforms.

Wendy watched Natsu, Gray, and Erza in amazement. _Wow..._ She thought. _They're completely obliterating that entire guild with only three people! Is that the power of offensive dragon slayer magic?_ She wondered. Taking a glance around at the other guild mages taking on the dark wizards, she noticed they were doing just as well. Their ability to take on that many at once made her curious and scared at the prospective of just how powerful that would make the Oracion Seis.

Which then led her thoughts to Gaara. _But if they were all completely destroyed by the Oracion Seis, and Gaara defeated one of the Oracion Seis solo, then that means he's stronger than all of them! Amazing..._

A sudden battle cry from one of the Naked Mummy morons broke her out of her thoughts. "Hey! Let's get her! She looks pretty weak!" Exclaimed one of the monkey men from Naked Mummy.

He charged at the girl, brandishing a magical shotgun. As he got in range, he pointed the end of the barrel at her and pulled the trigger. Wendy screamed and put her hands up in a horrible attempt at some sort of defense. Light green pellets flew out in a buckshot towards Wendy, but before they could reach her, a wall of sand broke through the ground at her feet and blocked them all. Before the ape could even react, the wall transitioned into a menacing looking claw and slapped him into a tree, knocking him out completely. It came back and picked Wendy up, carrying her over to where Gaara was, setting her down beside him.

Wendy stared at him. He was still closing his eyes and chanting. _H-how? His eyes are still closed, and he looks completely immersed in whatever he's doing!_

It was then that she noticed the ball of sand that was forming about a meter above his head. It was about the size of the average chair and remained suspended in the air in the same position. The sand that made of the sphere looked like is was ever changing, flowing like water almost.

A second later, Gaara seemed to be done whatever he was creating. He opened his eyes and left his hands in one final hand sign. " **Desert Sands World Order!** " He called out.

The sphere of sand moved up until it was towering over the entire battlefield. When it peaked, it stopped abruptly. Spikes of sand began shooting out of the sphere in all directions coming from the bottom half of the ball. They kept branching off each other until they had immobilized every last dark wizard withing what looked like a massive tree of sand.

The mages of the alliance looked around in awe at all the dark wizards, who now couldn't even move an inch if they tried to. Jura looked back at Gaara, who was now standing with his arms crossed. _Just who is this and how have I never heard of him before? How did Wendy just find him on the side of the road?_

Meanwhile, Wendy was having thoughts of her own. _Just what kind of magic..._

 _Is that?_


	4. CH-4: Nirvana

**Hey everyone, I'm back! Hope you all had a great summer, I know I sure did!**

 **As a side note, I'm currently working on the next installment of my other story, in case anyone's getting the wrong idea that I abandoned it or something of the like. Sorry for the slow updates everyone, but now that I'm less busy, hopefully I'll be able to get chapters out weekly or at least bi-weekly.**

 **Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

The mages of the light alliance (and lone shinobi) were now standing upon the now barren battlefield. The dark mages they were fighting earlier had all been tied up and immobilized by Jura's rocks of iron.

At the moment, they were discussing their battle strategies for when they would eventually take on the rest of the Oracion Seis. They figured it would be much better to have some form of a battle plan rather than just an all out brawl like what happened last time. Granted, they were the strongest member of their team for the aforementioned fight, but it still wouldn't hurt.

"I vote that we divide the enemy into sections for us to take on as each individual guild!" Proposed a very eager Lyon. After getting dumpstered so badly in their previous bout, it was only natural for him to want to settle the score.

Jura brought a hand to his chin and rubbed the bare skin where a mustache would be. "I don't see any faults with it, although I could be wrong. Does anyone else have a problem with this method?" Jura boomed out to the surrounding mages (and ninja!).

Small murmurs could be heard from the crowd of mages in front of the wizard saint, although none opposed Lyon's plan. Seeing as how nobody responded to his question, Jura resumed. "Very well, we will go with that." Jura paused for a moment. "If anyone remembers any of the enemy's magic types or attacks, please tell me, it could prove invaluable for the construction of our plan."

Once again, murmurs were heard from the crowd, and after a few seconds, Erza and Hibiki stepped forwards. "During my fight with Cobra, I noticed he was able to read my attacks somehow. He said, and I quote: "It's no use, I can hear your moves before you even make them, TItania!" I don't know how he did it, but he was able to perfectly predict any move I tried to make." Erza reported.

Jura nodded and turned to Hibiki. "Hoteye seems to be able to manipulate the how solid the ground is, and adding on to that he can move the ground in whatever manner he sees fit. I'm sure you already know that Angel is a celestial spirit mage, so we'll skip that. We know nothing about Midnight so far, he remained asleep for the entire fight. Brain uses a form of dark magic coming from his staff. He was able to manifest the energy coming from it into the shape of hand, which he used to grab Wendy. The energy seems to be physical, as Gaara was able to sever it with sand." Hibiki explained thoroughly.

Jura thought for a minute on the new information. "Does anyone have any effective methods of countering any of the abilities mentioned?" He eventually asked.

"Well..."

 **THIRTY MINUTES LATER**

After a good half hour of _intense_ plan-making, the group had eventually decided on having Fairy Tail fight Cobra, Lamia Scale fight Angel and Hoteye, and Blue Pegasus would fight Brain and Midnight. Wendy would support them with her dragonslayer magic, while Gaara protected her as a temporary bodyguard of sorts.

In reality though, the plan made very little sense to Gaara. In his mind, they were only prolonging their inevitable victory. There was no reason limit Gaara to protecting when him and Jura were almost certainly the two most powerful forces in their little squad. But if there was one thing that being a shinobi taught him, it would be: 'always follow orders'. So if Jura wanted him to be a bodyguard, a bodyguard he would be.

When they were done with their strategy, they just kept walking the way they were before the fight against the other guilds. It was quite the boring walk, really. Just rows and rows of trees as far as the eyes could see, and nobody was really talking. They were all mentally preparing for what could be the hardest fight of their lives.

Not Gaara though. The fight of your life was almost every day for a shinobi, and especially so for a Jinchuuriki. I mean, when you've had the same amount of assassination attempts on you as you are years old, that really says something, now doesn't it?

 _I wonder if I'll ever end of going back to the Elemental Nations?_ Gaara wondered. _Meh, whatever. Temari and Kankuro are probably more relieved than they are sad that I'm gone, and to be honest, Wendy has shown the least amount of hostility towards me than anyone I've ever met._

He was rudely snapped out of his thoughts by the crashing and snapping of tree branches breaking and trunks falling. It sounded like it was coming from up ahead, so the group ran to find out what was causing the abrasive noise.

When they got there, it wasn't what they found there that surprised them, no, because there was nothing. What surprised them was the state of the area they were standing. The normal tall trees and thick foliage were completely shredded and wrecked by some unknown force. It was as if a mini hurricane had just cut through the area in a straight line through the forest.

Jura inspected the trail of destruction with a frown. "Judging from the wreckage, it seems as if whatever caused this mess is heading that way." He said, pointing in the intended direction. "This could be something to do with Oracion Seis. While it directly contradicts our strategy, this is not something we can overlook. We will be splitting up. Fairy Tail and Blue Pegasus will follow the path of destruction, while the rest of us will go the opposite direction. If your group runs into trouble, have the mage with the brightest, flashiest magic shoot something into the sky." Jura explained. "Does everyone understand?" He followed up.

Everyone in the group mumbled yes, or some form of agreement, although small grumbles could be heard from the Fairy Tail group, complaining about having to work with "The playboys" and the "weirdo" respectively. Meanwhile, the Blue Pegasus squad was all cheers after hearing the news.

Jura nodded. "Good. Now go, we have no time to waste!" He called out, and turned around to leave with his designated group.

 **A WHILE LATER, WITH GAARA**

Gaara had a lot of time to think on this mission. Quite unusual for the young shinobi, but he wasn't complaining. Back in the Elemental Nations, it was a constant go-go-go type scenario. You could never let your guard down if you wanted to live past your first mission above D-Rank. But this place was different. He could tell just by how the rest of his crew walked; most of them wore a lax posture and pleasant smile. Jura was different, but only because he felt the need to protect the rest of the group, being the strongest.

 _This place,_ He began to think. _"Fiore". It's a hell of a lot more peaceful than the Elemental Nations could ever be, that's for sure. But if that is so... then what is my purpose? My entire life... I've lived only for myself. To prove that my existence is worth something. I've always killed those who posed a threat to my existence, making sure I would not be snuffed out. But what now..._

He couldn't help but think thoughts like these when he realized just how different Fiore was compared to the Elemental Nations. It was like night and day. Despite the deep thinking, he would not let it distract him from the mission.

Gaara took a glance at the blue head he was to protect. At the moment, she was fine. He was confident in his ability to guard her effectively, as his sand is essentially the ultimate defensive weapon. But it was then that he started to notice the other things she was doing. Humming, skipping, things that signified her overall cheeriness, despite the situation.

He couldn't help but wonder if he could have ended up similar if his life had played out differently. Perhaps if his father didn't order Yashamaru to betray him? He shook his head. It didn't matter now. The past was just that, the past.

 **WITH WENDY**

Despite her cheerful appearance, Wendy was troubled. _Why am I so weak?..._ She wondered sadly. _I'm supposed to be a fierce dragonslayer! Trained by the great Grandeeney! So why am I so pathetic?! I constantly have to be protected by the people around me, even now!_ She thought, glancing at Gaara walking beside her.

 _Even Carla protects me, and she's a freakin cat! Probably about one eighth of my size and weight! Maybe I'm just weak compared to Natsu and the others because I'm younger?_ Wendy brought a finger to the corner of her mouth as she considered the possibility. _After all, they do look like they're at least fifteen or sixteen. Hmm... maybe?... Oh! I know, I'll just ask Ga- oh._ She suddenly realized. _I forgot. Well... there's still no harm in asking I guess..._

She took a peek at him. As usual, his arms were crossed, and his pale green eyes were staring forward like a zombie. She moved to the right slightly, and began to walk beside him, stopping her skip. "Gaara?" She asked timidly.

Gaara answered in the monotone voice she was used to. He didn't even look at her. "What is it?"

"How old are you and the rest of the group?" She asked.

Gaara blinked. He hadn't expected a question like that. "I'm twelve years old. As for the rest, I'm not sure. Most of them look like they're in the sixteen to twenty range, except for Ichiya and Jura, who appear to be significantly older." He responded.

Wendy slumped. _Well, what was I expecting? For him to be seventeen?_ "Am I really that weak?..." She muttered in a depressed tone.

Surprisingly, Gaara heard her and answered. "That depends on what aspect you're focusing on."

Wendy's head shot up and her brown eyes snapped to Gaara, only to find Gaara staring straight back at her, surprising them both for the same reason. "What do you mean?"

Gaara turned his head back to the road in front of him, not even realizing what he'd just done. "Well, if you're looking at how well you fight, then I agree, you're weak. But if you're looking at supportive abilities and healing, you're strong. Well, that is if the people's comments are anything to go by. From what I heard, healing is somewhat of a rare ability here." Gaara responded.

Wendy subconsciously nodded her head, thinking. "Well, yeah..."

"If you can do something that nobody else can, and that thing is something useful, that instantly makes _you_ useful." Gaara concluded.

Wendy smiled happily, not realizing she had resumed skipping and humming. "Thanks Gaara!" She responded.

Gaara almost tripped. Someone had just... thanked him? That was a first. "Your... welcome?..." He replied tentatively. The words were just uncomfortable coming out of his mouth.

The awkward silence that followed was abruptly ended a quarter of an hour later by fireworks of ice and flames in the air behind them. Seeing as that was the signal if your group got into trouble.

With no more time to spare, Jura and the rest of his team turned around and began running to the location of the makeshift flares.

 **WITH THE OTHER GROUP**

Things were not nearly as cheery in the other group as it was for Jura's. They hadn't been walking for very long when they came across a giant, glowing, purple tree. It was massive. Bigger than any tree they had ever seen. It's circumference had to be at least one hundred feet, and it's canopy cast an ominous shadow over the surrounding area. Despite the glowing purple emanating from the tree, there was one other feature that could be described as more strange coming from a tree.

Chains. Every ten feet or so, a black chain would sprout from the bark of the tree as if it were a regular branch. The chains attached to random places in the ground and surrounding rocks, as if they were holding the tree down.

Lucy shivered. "That tree is so creepy..." She whispered, tugging at Natsu's sleeve to grab his attention.

Natsu gazed at it. "Well, I guess so. But isn't the Worth Woodsea known for having strange plants and stuff like this?"

"Indeed it is Natsu, but this is unlike anything even the Worth Woodsea should have within it's borders." Hibiki added.

Gray shrugged. "Whatever it is, I say we head down there and check it out." He suggested to the group.

Without any confirmation, he walked off towards the tree. But before he could even walk five steps, Erza grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. "Gray! Use your head for once! Haven't you ever head the phrase, 'look before you leap!'? There's someone down there!" Erza pointed out.

Everyone in the group turned their eyes to the base of the tree, and sure enough, there was a figure standing right next to it, with his palm flush to the surface of the tree. Erza turned to Natsu. "Can you tell who that is? Is it someone from Oracion Seis?" She asked, knowing he has superior senses than normal humans.

Natsu squinted his eyes, trying to make out defining features of whoever was standing roughly four hundred meters away from them. His eyes widened. Stepping back in shock and horror, he began to stutter. "No... no way... it can't be..."

Erza grabbed his shoulders and looked into his eyes. "NATSU! FOCUS! WHO IS THAT!?" She shouted at him.

Natsu looked pale as a ghost as he responded. "Jellal."

Without any further notice, Erza began sprinting towards the lone figure who could now be identified as Jellal. The sounds of many people's jaws dropping comedically were heard from the group. "What about her speech?!" They all shouted.

Promptly, the group began to follow Erza towards the tree and Jellal, but they abruptly stopped when a massive beam of swirling white and black energies burst forth from the ground beneath the tree, completely envoloping it. Looking ahead, they noticed Erza stopped to peer at the bright light that shot up into the sky, but only momentarily. Without any further obstacles, the group sprinted after her.

WITH ERZA

Erza couldn't believe that the man she once thought dead was now right in front of her. Of course, she had seen Mystogan's face, but there was just something different about him, coupled with what he told her, she knew he wasn't the Jellal she knew.

Pushing through the violent storm of dust blowing around her, she took one step after another, persevering and desperately trying to get through to where Jellal was. As she got there, he turned around, staring at her with blue eyes that gave away nothing as to what he was feeling.

They both stood there for what seemed like hours before either of the two spoke, but the one to break the silence was Erza. She was shaking with overflowing emotions of all kind as she began to speak. "Jellal. How did you end up here?" Erza tried to sound strong and confident as usual, but the small quiver in her voice gave her away.

Jellal's face fell as he answered. "I don't know... I don't know ANYTHING! I CAN'T REMEMBER! ALL I REMEMBER IS THE NAME 'ERZA'!" He suddenly began to shout.

Erza was shocked at Jellal's amnesia. How could he just forget everything that he's done? He committed so many evil deeds... He couldn't just forget it all and be done with it!

Jellal wasn't done speaking. "DO YOU KNOW WHO ERZA IS?! PLEASE, TELL ME!" He shouted in a frantic voice.

Erza looked at him with steady eyes. "I know who you're looking for. It's me. I am Erza, and you are Jellal." She answered him.

She began walking towards him, but he wouldn't have any of that. "STAY AWAY FROM ME!" He shouted in the same frantic voice. He raised a palm towards her and let out a beam of cosmic light. The beam exploded around her, but did not knock her back. All she suffered were a few scrapes and bruises. Jellal gasped in surprised at the ineffectiveness of his magic.

Erza stood still. "There was a time when we were great friends." She told him.

Jellal's eyes widened in surprise. "We were...?" He whispered.

Erza's expression soured. "But that was before you went insane. You hurt my friends, destroyed the magic council... even killed Simon..." She trailed off.

Jellal stared at his feet in shock and disgust with himself. But Erza wasn't done. "If you even DARE forget the pain and suffering you've caused, I'll put my sword in your heart myself! Now come to me and face your atonement!"

Jellal put a hand to his face. "What have I done..." He muttered. Tears came to his eyes in pure anguish. He didn't want it to be true. Anything but what she had just told him. It was just too painful a thought to bear. "How can I even make amends..."

Laughing was heard from behind some nearby rocks. Erza whipped her head around, only to find the remaining Oracion Seis members walking in a row. Brain was the one laughing, taunting her in his deep, baritone voice. The others just grinned or smirked in glee, and in a surprise turn of events, Midnight was actually awake.

"Well then, I suppose sacrificing my idiotic staff for your life was a good investment then, eh Jellal? We do owe you a thanks for finding Nirvana for us. Not to sound cliche here, but, we couldn't have done it without you!" Brain mocked in a fake high pitched voice.

Erza grit her teeth. "What have you done?!" She demanded.

Brain smirked. "You see, we needed to find Nirvana, and since Jellal knew exactly where it was, we figured, why not get him to find it for us? But there was only one, small problem." He pointed his finger at Jellal. "You went and almost got yourself killed!" He shouted with a small snort of laughter. "Luckily, the late Racer was able to retrieve your body in a state of comatose from ethernano overdose, and using the life energy that powered my staff, I was able to bring you back from your... unfortunate state." He explained.

"And now you've even gone and unsealed it for us, why thank you!" Cobra leered at them.

But now it was Jellal's turn to smirk. "Not quite." He said mysteriously.

Their and Erza's confusion was lifted by a complex series of lines and shapes that appeared on the beam of light, slowly expanding further and further around it. Jellal felt a slight pang of amusement as he watched Cobra's face turn from glee to utter horror. Meanwhile, Erza was confused as fuck.

Cobra pointed at the epicenter of the diagram. "BRAIN! THAT'S A DESTRUCTION SEAL!" He shouted.

Brain clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Yes Cobra, I know that. All four of you are going to need to fight those two while I disable the seal he put on Nirvana." Brain explained to his companions.

With the plan of action set, the five burst into motion. Brain went straight for the pillar of light, which Erza now knew was actually Nirvana itself. Erza and Jellal tried to run to stop him, but they quickly found themselves face to face with Midnight, Cobra, Angel, and Hoteye.

Jellal grit his teeth in frustration. _Damn it! If he knows how to undo the destruction seal, it's all over!_ He thought desperately. Erza requipped into her Heaven's Wheel armor and readied her weapons.

But it was too late. With a rather maniacle spurt of laughter from Brain, he finally dispelled the destruction seal Jellal had placed upon Nirvana. "Finally! The ancient weapon of the Nirvit people, Nirvana."

Erza leveled her sword at Brain. "What does this secret weapon do?! I DEMAND YOU TELL ME!" Erza shouted forcefully.

Brain smirked. "Normally I wouldn't say anything, but I just can't resist this one time. Nirvana holds the power to switch the dark and light within people." Brain explained.

Erza gasped. Such a weapon was surely not possible. The sheer chaos the thing could cause would be outrageous. She could not let such a weapon to see the light of day.

"But that's not all." Brain continued. "Nirvana works _especially_ well on mages who walk a fine line between the light and the dark, and I remember correctly..." Brain trailed off. Erza's eyes widened as she realized what Brain was hinting at. He smiled cruelly as he saw her expression.

"There's someone in your group who meets the requirements perfectly."


	5. CH-5: Zero

"Oh no..." Erza breathed out in horror.

Brain's smirk only grew larger as he took in her expression. "How well will you fare without that child to babysit you?" Brain mocked. "Quite ironic, I must say."

"Oi, oi, why don't you shut the hell up old man!" A new voice shouted from behind Erza and Jellal. It was Natsu.

The rest of the group came running down the hill and stood alongside Erza and Jellal. "Yeah, after that fight earlier, we've been dying for a rematch!" Gray added. Then they turned to Jellal, who looked back at them with a confused expression.

Natsu, Gray, and Lucy glared at him with angry expressions. "We still don't trust you pal, but if Erza's decided to give you another shot then I guess we'll just have to roll with it." Gray explained. Lucy nodded, as did Natsu, although reluctantly.

Jellal looked down. "I see." He answered simply.

Erza stepped up beside her fellow mages. She readied her swords and watched the enemy with the gaze of a hawk. "I assume ou heard about the weapon they plan on using, Natsu?" She questioned.

Natsu nodded, never taking his eyes off the enemy. "I did. I explained it to the others while we were running down here. We need to find some way to destroy it before Gaara gets here, or we could be in for a world of hurt." He responded.

Lucy grimaced. "Couldn't we just not send the distress signal?" She asked.

Erza shook her head. "It's too risky. Last time we fought these guys we got swept. We only lived because Gaara and Jura showed up at just the right moment. We need their help."

"Besides," Natsu added on. "Gray and I already sent it." He said, causing them to sweat drop. Lucy face palmed. _I was right beside them, how did I not notice that?_

"All we can do now is hope that either Brain is wrong, and Gaara will be perfectly fine, or destroy the weapon before Gaara arrives. No more time to lose!" Gray finished.

With no Racer there to tip the scales in the favour of Oracion Seis, The combined might of Fairy Tail and Blue Pegasus was far more effective against the opposing dark guild. As discussed earlier, Natsu, Gray, and Lucy went after Cobra. The trimen and their boss, Ichiya, attacked Hoteye and Angel, and Erza decided to help Jellal against the leader of Oracion Seis, Brain. Midnight... was still sleeping.

Natsu, Gray, and Aki had to all attack Cobra at once just to have any hope of hitting the guy. Just like Erza said, he seemed to be able to see through any attack they through at him, down to pinpoint accuracy. Little did the three know, Cobra's main secret had yet to be revealed.

The mages of Blue Pegasus were having a better time dealing with the duo. Eve and Ren combined their magics to create a howling blizzard that severely slowed the liquidation of the ground via Hoteye's magic. Hibiki and Ichiya were taking on Angel, and using a combination of Hibiki's unique archive magic and Ichiya's parfums to effectively counter Angel's celestial spirits.

Strangely enough, the strongest two wizards in the group, Erza and Jellal, were having the hardest time fighting Brain. Even though he no longer held his staff, it seemed to give him a new range of abilities, going from shields to long distance beams, all made of the same green and black energy that radiated evil and death. Erza's swords and Jellal's yellow beams couldn't seem to penetrate it, no matter how much energy they put into their attacks.

But they had to suck it up, because if Gaara got there before Nirvana was destroyed...  
All hell would break loose.

 **WITH GAARA**

It was really unclear to him why mages ran on the ground when trying to travel quickly. Tree jumping was just so much faster, and for the cost of so little chakra, if any at all. Eventually he put it down to them not having nearly as much physical capability as shinobi, since they could use their magic from long range and never have to worry about close quarters.

On the other side of things, the mages couldn't figure out for the life of them how Gaara could just hop from tree to tree like a squirrel on crack. He didn't even look like he was putting any effort in, just using a single stride to get from branch to branch.

 _Is that how all people from Gaara's land travel? Or is it something specific to just him? Maybe he does it because it's fun?..._ In image of Gaara scowling with his arms folded poofed into Wendy's mind and she sweat dropped. _Yeah, probably not._

Though they couldn't deny it was effective. He was going just as fast as they were. I mean, if it works it ain't stupid, right?

Little did they know, Gaara was thinking almost the exact opposite. _How can these people stand to go so slowly? Are they able to get anywhere in a timely manner?_

Not that it mattered. He hoped to be able to go solo once he got his payment from Wendy's guild. Working with mages was quite the frustrating task for a shinobi like him, so he counted on being rid of them in the near future. Just as soon as he was done taking care of the 'Oracion Seis'.

A pillar of light and dark energy burst forth into the sky ahead of them, quickly grabbing the whole group's attention. They stopped for a moment to gaze at it. "The others must have found Nirvana! Quick! We need to regroup before the Oracion Seis can get there!" Jura shouted.

They nodded and resumed their run/tree jumps towards the source of Nirvana. Not to much time had passed before Gaara head the voice of Shukaku booming through his head.

"Gaara."

Gaara tuned out and focused on Shukaku. "What is it?"

"That light just ahead of you seems to be emitting some sort of strange magic."

Gaara's eyes narrowed at their current destination. "What does it do?" Any ideas?"

"From what I can tell, it turns people from evil to good, and vice versa. You should be fine though, you've never really been either, and it only works on people with weak minds."

Gaara's gaze fluttered down to the ground to the left of him where the mages ran. _Weak minds... Wendy and Cherry have a decent chance of being affected by it. They're too indecisive, or in Cherry's case, weak-willed. I have to be prepared to restrain both of them at the same time if the need arises._

Without anyone noticing, he discretely put a stream of sand into the ground, making it move with the group. The plan was for it to wait underneath the aforementioned two mages, and if they become affected by the magic, it would hold them captive until it wore off.

 **AT NIRVANA, GROUND ZERO**

Things had quickly taken a turn for the worse for the brave mages fighting off the Oracion Seis. Angel had quickly gotten fed up with the perfume smelling idiot and decided to change it up a little.

She had Gemini transform itself into Lucy, and used _her_ gate keys to summon her spirits. With the combination of powerful spirits like Sagittarius and Scorpio, Ichiya's power from parfumes began to falter, and slowly but surely the tide of battle shifted in the favor of Angel Hoteye.

The sudden appearance of herself caused Lucy to momentarily forget the battle at hand, and stopped to stare at the copy of herself. But this small lapse in concentration was all an experienced mage such as Cobra needed.

He used his superior speed and darted behind Lucy, promptly hitting her in the back of the head with a devastating haymaker, knocking her out. With Lucy and her spirits gone, Cobra only had to worry about the two attacking him directly.

Gray's magic was extremely easy to hear coming for Cobra, since all his attacks were static. Natsu was slightly harder, being more unpredictable, but since he could hear Gray's attacks coming he could focus most of his effort of fighting off Natsu.

Erza and Jellal's fight remained at somewhat of a stalemate. They couldn't hit Brain, but at the same time he couldn't hit them. It came down to a battle of attrition, and it was on that was far from over.

Suddenly, several large boulders flew out of the tree line, heading straight for the dark mages of Oracion Seis. They were forced to jump back and disengage to prevent being crushed by the enormous rocks.

The mages of the alliance looked back to see Jura and the rest of the gang emerging from the forest. They looked ready and willing to fight, with their various magic's swirling ominously around them.

But to the newcomer's surprise, they weren't greeted by looks of gratitude and relief from their comrades, but rather expressions of horror and shock. Jura frowned. _Strange._ He thought.

"No!" shouted Gray. "We were too late! They've arrived!" The confusion of Gaara and the others only grew.

Erza took control of the situation. "Quick! You have to take Gaara away from here! Nirvana is designed to take effect on people like him!" She called to them.

Brain cut her off before they could respond. "It's too late, followers of light!" He exclaimed in glee. "Your foolish companion has been lead here like a lamb to slaughter, you're finished!"

Turning to Gaara directly, he called to him. "Do you feel it, child? The darkness flowing through you... let it wash over your body and snuff out any light that remains!"

Every person in the vicinity turned to the boy with blood red hair. He had his head down with his hair covering his eyes. He had a palm on his forehead, and he seemed to be concentrating on something.

Wendy looked at him with concern. "Gaara...? What's going on?" She asked in a timid voice.

Natsu grit his teeth and let out a low growl. "Damnit... this is going to get ugly..." He muttered.

Brain continued with his monologue. "That's it! People like you belong in the darkness! Just accept it and- ACKK!"

Brain's voice stopped abruptly when a spear of blood red sand shot through his stomach from behind like a spear. Blood sprayed in the air like a fountain and covered the ground in a deep red. Brain looked down at the protruding object in disbelief.

A hollow laughter pulled everyone's attention away from Brain and over to the source of the noise. Gaara. He was still in the same pose, with his head down and hand on his head, but now his shoulders were slightly shaking.

"Hah... Hah Hah..." His laugh sounded more like a series of snorts than actual laughing, but that didn't make it sound any less creepy coming from a twelve year old.

Lifting his head, he revealed an expression of light amusement. The end of his mouth twisted into a cruel smirk and he had one eyebrow slightly raised. He slowly shook his head. "You think that people can be divided by simple concepts like light and dark? No..." He said, still holding that amused expression. "I'd say the world is more of a delicious shade of grey..."

The sand retracted from Brain's abdomen. He abruptly fell to his knees, clutching the wound in his stomach. Blood leaked from the corners of his mouth as he grimaced and winced repeatedly from the pain. "B-But... that's impossible... A light m-mage who kills... I-it fits perfectly!" He shouted as another spurt of blood leaked from his mouth.

Gaara replied in a harsh tone. Thought that was almost the usual for him. "There are no such things as light and dark in this world. The idea of conflict is nothing more than a clash of personal goals and ideals. Not some whimsical battle between good and evil, or light and dark."

They all listened intently, especially the mages of the alliance. This was the most he had spoken for the entire time they were with him.

"If you think you can waver me with your empty words, you are sorely mistaken." He finished, and retracted his sand back to the gourd.

Everything went silent, everybody there processing Gaara's strange words. Jura frowned. _This boy speaks strange words for someone his age... No twelve year old should be talking about these matters._ He glanced at Wendy, who looked like she was still trying to wrap her head around the meaning of Gaara's short speech. _Wendy is about the same age, and yet she has trouble understanding him. I must speak to one of the guild masters about this._

He considered going to talk to the magic council about it. And he would have, if not for the fact that they probably would've just locked him up in a cell until they could fit time for him on their schedules.

Brain had enough. He had promised himself to never do what he was about to do, but times were desperate. He knew there was no chance for his remaining four generals to take on the enemy. He knew he would die from blood loss if he didn't do something about it quickly.

So with no time to spare, he forcibly removed the seals on his body, making the black lines that covered his face and body disappear. Even the Oracion Seis had no clue as to what Brain was doing. They watched him in curiosity.

But no later than a second had passed before an explosion of magic energy released from Brain's body. The alliance mages had been far enough from the epicenter that they could resist the explosion and merely digging themselves further into the ground. The Oracion Seis had not been so lucky.

All four had been knocked back, even Midnight. They hit the rocks and trees around them at high speeds, knocking them unconscious. Midnight was only awake for a second and a half before going straight back to sleep, this time via a more violent method.

The alliance mages wondered just what the hell Brain was doing, knocking out his own guild mates. They had them outnumbered before, but now it was almost twenty against one. How could he expect to win that? Unfortunately for them, the answer came shortly after.

The first thing they could see through the plume of dust were glowing, red eyes. If that wasn't ominous enough, when the dust cleared, it revealed Brain, but he was different. Gone were his tribal style clothes from before, now sporting something that looked much like a military officer's uniform. His hair had become wavier, and his skin far more pale. His expression also changed. While Brain usually wore an evil smirk, whatever he had become now wore something more akin to a bemused expression, as if he didn't care about anything. Though somehow it made him all the more terrifying.

They gasped at his new appearance, but the thing that caught their attention the most wasn't something new, rather, it was the _lack_ of a wound on his stomach.

"No way..." Lyon said in a low tone.

"That cut on his stomach..." Sherry continued.

"It's completely gone!" Finished Gray.

The new Brain only smirked as he saw their confused and shocked expressions. But Natsu had something to say.

"Oi! Braid! You hit your own guildmates! Are you going senile, old man?!" Natsu shouted, trying to taunt him.

'Brain' scoffed at his remark. "Please, don't associate me with that idiotic fool Brain. He's nothing but a weakling. My name is Zero! Master Zero, the guild master of Oracion Seis!" He exclaimed, holding out his hand and moving an orb of dark green energy around it.

Before anyone could even blink his hand moved to the side to block an attack. All the mages could see was a small cloud of sand puff around his arm. Zero turned his head and smirked at Gaara, who held a neutral expression.

Gaara's gaze narrowed at Zero. _It's like he's a completely different person. Everything about him has changed. His personality, his look, his outfit, even his combat capabilities. And from the looks of it, those capabilities are far higher than any of the other members of his guild._

He walked up beside the other members of the alliance, Jura, Wendy, and the rest of Lamia Scale in tow. Now that they were in a row, it gave them a slight confidence boost. Lucy had finally waken up from being brutally K.O'd by Cobra, and was with them. Seeing their almost twenty against just Zero was reassuring.

Zero decided that Jura and Gaara were the top priority targets, so he lead off their battle by raising his palms and gathering dark energy in both. He promptly released the energy as two dark green beams towards the two mages mentioned. " **Dark Cappricio!** "

Jura saw the incoming attack and went for his go-to defense. Raising two pillars of magically enhanced stone in front of himself, he braced for the attack. The beam pierced through the first pillar, but it seemed to slow the beam down, as it did not pierce the second.

Gaara did what he always did. Which was nothing. There was no reason to, so why should he? Any attack thrown at him always got blocked, so what was the point? The only time something had hit them is when the attack had been so fast that even his sand couldn't react in time, and since the beam heading for him was nowhere near as fast as Lee's taijutsu, he had nothing to worry about.

At least, that was what he thought. The beam went right through his sand like a hot knife through butter, and struck him directly in the chest. His eyes went wide. _What the-_ Was all he could think before he was hit by the beam and sent flying back, spinning head over heels rapidly until he crashed into a boulder, creating a large indent.

This came as quite a shock for the other mages, seeing the seemingly invincible Gaara get nailed directly by an attack. But they were quickly snapped out of their inner musings by Zero launching more attacks. They were forced to dodge in every direction to avoid Zero's bursts of dark green energy.

Erza and Jellal went in for the attack. Jellal powered himself up using Meteor, and Erza requipped into her black wing armour. But despite their largely increased speed, they were unable to successfully blitz Zero.

While he wasn't as fast as them, he was fast enough to raise his arm and use his overwhelming strength to defend himself against their combined attack. But doing this forced a momentary lapse in his constant firing of Dark Capriccio beams. Seeing this, the other mages charged forwards with attacks of their own.

Zero smirked. Raising both his arms, he gathered green energy in his hands. " **Dark Gravity!** " He yelled, slamming his hands on the ground.

All around him, the mages of the alliance began to fall to the ground under the incrased gravity from Zero's spell. Erza, Jellal, Jura, Wendy, and Gaara weren't knocked prone, only due to the fact that they were out of range.

Wendy was just hiding again, Erza and Jellal had to regroup after being rebuffed by Zero, Jura was still analyzing his opponent, and Gaara was still recovering from the earlier attack. But it seemed like recovery time was over.

Gaara stepped back into view. He'd adjusted the strap that held his gourd in place to cover the spot where the beam hit him, and there was a painfully obvious red spot where the epicenter was. Even some parts around it were a darker shade than the rest of his clothes, for obvious reasons.

Gaara got into a fighting stance for the first time since he'd been with them. The lid popped off his gourd and sand streamed out, pooling around his ankles.

Zero grinned evilly. "Back for more, eh?"

"Well I'm happy to oblige."


	6. CH-6: The real Nirvana revealed

**Sorry for the wait. I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

Zero grinned maliciously as he stared down the opposing mages. There was little reason for him to be afraid at the moment. He'd already proven his ability to pierce Gaara's shield of sand, and put Jura on the defensive at the same time. The only others on his radar were Jellal and to some extent Erza, but they were already weary from fighting his alter ego. Zero resumed his usual posture with his hands behind his back and waited for the mages of the alliance to make a move.

Over on the other side of the conflict, Gaara and the others were preparing, flaring their various magics about their bodies. The ratio of roughly twenty to one still gave them a confidence booster, but after seeing Zero's earlier display of magic, it was far less than before.

Natsu charged, igniting his fists as hey bolted forwards. Gray soon followed with his shirt already off and away. Erza requipped into her Black Wing armour and dashed towards Zero alongside the other two Fairy Tail wizards. They were supported by a barrage of magic from their allies behind them. Eagles of ice, monsters of earth, and enormous pillars of solid stone shot forth from the three Lamia Scale mages, and not far behind them were blasts of air and snow from Blue Pegasus.

Zero dodged to the side, avoiding the magic projectiles shot by Ren and Eve. He was quickly forced to raise his arm to defend against a flaming punch from Natsu. And the barrage never stopped. The attacks were non-stop, either coming from the back line mages or the ones directly in front of him, assaulting him in close combat.

They seemed to be at a stalemate. Zero's defensive magic was able to block anything the light wizards could throw at him, and due to the number of enemies and relentlessness of their attacks, he was unable to do any permanent damage to them.

But that all changed when Zero forgot one crucial fact; Gaara. A thin tendril of sand snaked it's way up from the ground behind one of Zero's feet. It wrapped itself around his ankle and retracted, tripping him. Zero's eyes widened as he felt himself fall. "What?!" He exclaimed in surprise and anger.

The Fairy Tail mages were quick to follow up on their enemy's momentary lapse in concentration. Gray got into his signature ice make stance, and created a pillar directly beneath Zero, shooting him twenty meters into the sky. Erza flew up with her Black Wing armour and sliced at the icy pillar in rapid succession, shattering it and putting Zero into a free fall. Natsu took advantage of this by deftly jumping up and landing a devastating kick onto Zero's torso, which sent the evil guild master shooting down like a meteor into the ground below.

Natsu landed on the ground beside Gray and Erza, who was back in her Heart Kreuz armour. The wizards of the alliance watched the down form of Zero with bated breath as they waited to see if he would rise again.

Sure enough, Zero lifted himself off the ground with seemingly little to no effort. He looked back at them with an arrogant smirk, and mockingly dusted off his green coat. Natsu growled. "Damnit!" He yelled.

Suddenly, the ground began to shake. Violently. It felt like an intense earthquake, but judging from the grin upon Zero's face the wizards could derive that it was something of his doing. It was confirmed as true when the ground beneath them gave way, and the mages of light fell into darkness.

Their free fall was quickly halted by a wall of solid limestone. The sudden shock of falling was enough to knock them all to the ground and temporarily disorient them. When they rose from the ground and gained their bearings, what they saw was a shock. What they had thought to be the earth beneath them was actually a gigantic spider leg, made completely of stone. Not only that, but they were over a hundred meters elevated in the air.

The leg they were standing on appeared to be one of six, spread equally and originating from a spherical base. The bottom half of the middle was jagged stone, as if it were just a chunk of rock stolen from the earth. in between the top and bottom there was a big hole, though they weren't able to see anything inside of it.

The top half of the sphere was much different than the bottom. To put it simply, it looked like a city. Complete with roads, houses, buildings, and all the rest. And to top it all off, it was made completely of stone. At the very peak of the sphere, there was a tower-like building that rose higher than the rest. That was where they assumed Zero to be.

A banged up Jura scanned over the group. They looked worse for wear. Erza was supporting Jellal, with one of his arms slung over her shoulders. Gaara had an obvious wound where Zero's magic had hit him, and blood stained a wide area on his clothes. The rest were simply scratched and bruised. They all looked to Jura for instructions.

He turned and looked up at the monstrous arrangement of buildings and houses that formed the city in front of them, only a few hundred some odd meters from them. All they would have to do to reach Zero would be walk forwards on the leg.

Jura turned back to the group. "We must continue trying to defeat Zero. With him gone, we can focus on destroying Nirvana, which I can only assume to be whatever we're standing on at the moment." He said, taking a glance at the stone leg beneath him.

Natsu released a small plume of fire from his mouth. "Yeah! I want another crack at that scrunchy nosed freak show!" He exclaimed exuberantly. Erza and Jellal smirked and nodded. "Agreed." Erza said.

They began walking towards the inner part of Nirvana, step after step towards what would be the hardest fight of their lives for most of them. Silence filled the air as they mentally prepared themselves. Meanwhile, Gaara was internally conversing with Shukaku.

 _"Shukaku, I require your assistance."_ Gaara called out in his mind.

The one tailed beast seemed to sigh before responding. _"I see. What's the matter?"_ Shukaku responded.

 _"I assume you watched our short encounter with the one known as Zero?"_ Gaara questioned.

 _"Then you assumed correct."_ Shukaku confirmed.

 _"Good. I need to know if there's a way to block his magic without simply increasing the amount of sand shielding me."_ Gaara stated.

Shukaku thought for a moment before answering. _"I can think of a few ways. Why though?"_ Shukaku responded with a question.

 _"Wendy seems to be a common target for our enemies. I need the extra sand to be close by her."_ Gaara answered.

Shukaku wasn't convinced. _You've never cared about the safety of a comrade before. Why now?"_

Gaara was silent for a long moment before answering. _"Just tell me how to do it."_

 _"Fine."_ Shukaku responded. _"The easiest way I can think of at the moment would be to mix your sand with random minerals and rocks that are in the ground. While it'll make your sand heavier, it'll also increase the level of stability and hardness it possesses. It should work until we can find a more... permanent solution."_

 _"I see,"_ Gaara said, _"Thank you for the information."_

 _Interesting..._ Shukaku thought, reviewing his recent conversation with his host. _I wonder just who this Wendy kid is?_ Then a thought struck him, and he internally giggled. _Hehe... even the mighty Gaara can't overcome the forces of nature._

Only moments after Gaara finished speaking with Shukaku, the ground beneath him and the group began to shake violently, which could only mean one thing. Nirvana was moving. Gaara used chakra to stick his feet to the leg upon which they were standing. The others weren't so lucky.

Natsu immediately hit the deck, going a sickly shade of green from his comical case of motion sickness. Most of the others wobbled for a bit, before regaining their balance by holding onto the floor with their hands. All but Wendy, who was the closest to the edge. She was unable to find purchase on the cylindrical leg of Nirvana.

For Gaara's shinobi senses, all he needed was the sound of a sharp intake of breath and fabric scraping against stone to make him turn. All he could make out by the time his head turned were the tips of blue locks disappearing from sight over the edge of their makeshift walkway. The others gasped and snapped their heads to where Wendy was. "WENDY!" Carla screamed.

Happy decided now was the time to step up and impress his newly made crush. He stepped forward with his hands on his hips like a charismatic hero and unfolded his aera wings. "Don't worry, I'll get her!" He exclaimed, preparing to fly off the ledge. Unfortunately, his short lived glory was stolen away by none other than Gaara.

With a casual peek over the edge, he spotted a distant blue haired figure below. He pointed his palm in Wendy's general direction, and in an instant the sand was flowing from the gourd strapped to his back. It bolted towards her and formed a cloud beneath her. Slowly, he broke her fall before bringing her to a complete stop.

The rest of the mages standing beside him breathed a collective sigh of relief. Wendy was safe. Happy slumped in defeat, but Natsu was quick to cheer him up. Carla on the other hand grew her own pair of wings and hopped off the edge, presumably to speak with Wendy.

 **WITH WENDY**

Wendy sat up from her position on her back, eyes wide and breathing hard. The blood was still rushing throughout her body, but the adrenaline rush was already wearing off. After a few deep breaths, she was able to calm her self down enough to think straight. She took a curious glance over the edge of her little bed of sand. Despite being hundreds of feet in the air, it didn't bother her in the slightest, for the same reasons Natsu wasn't afraid of extreme heat.

She looked up. Carla was coming! She smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. _I could really use a friend right now._ She thought in earnest. Almost falling to their doom makes a person want a little comfort. The fact that she was a mere hundred meters away from death was quite the mind blowing and scary thing to think about.

But as Carla came closer, and Wendy could make out her facial features, it became clear that Carla was not going to be the supporting shoulder that Wendy needed. Rather than sympathy and worry, all Wendy could ascertain was an expression of disappointment and frustration. Wendy sighed as she prepared herself for the humiliation and embarrassment of being told off by a talking cat that was a fifth of her size.

It made her think back to the last few weeks. Carla had always been like a mother, in a strange, convoluted way. But recently, things had begun to change. Carla's verbal discipline had been getting more and more harsh, almost as if Carla had these expectations that she expected Wendy to live up to, and on the flip side of things, Carla's caring side was coming out far less than it used to.

Wendy's bed of sand rose higher and higher as Carla descended lower and lower. The two met fifty some odd meters from where the group was waiting on the leg of Nirvana.

"WEN-DY MARVEL!" Carla pronounced in a stern voice, floating in front of the blue haired girl with her paws on her hips.

Wendy flinched. "Hey Carla..." She responded in a quiet, soft tone. It was clear the girl was uncomfortable. Her arms were folded and she was frowning. Her body was turned away slightly and her eyes were locked to her feet.

Carla huffed. "Do you have ANY idea how out of hand this is getting, Wendy?" Carla said. "You're lack of awareness is infuriating!" Carla exclaimed.

Wendy lowered her head and curled her arms into her chest. "I'm s-sorry Carla..." Wendy squeaked out in a meager tone.

Carla looked like she was ready to go off again, but it was at that moment that several thin ropes of sand snaked their way down and wrapped themselves around Carla. "What in the-" Carla was able to get out, before being yanked away. Wendy sighed in relief. She looked up, where she saw Carla rising to where Gaara was standing. _Thank you..._

Carla found herself pulled up to eye level with the blank stare of Gaara. His unwavering glare was unnerving to say the least, and being completely immobilized didn't help either. The others were all speaking with one another, so nobody else was paying attention to the two of them.

Gaara did not like what he had just seen. He would normally not be the one to help any person other than himself, but there was just something about Wendy... seeing her get talked down to like that. It made him hurt a little on the inside. It didn't show on his features, but it reminded him of his childhood back in Suna. Nobody to stand up for you, just yourself to fight it out.

Any other person and he couldn't of cared less. But Wendy had somehow found a way past Gaara's cold exterior and made herself the first human he'd ever considered a friend, no matter how small those feelings were.

"You need to speak less, cat." Gaara told her, refusing to use her name despite knowing it.

Carla felt a bead of sweat role down the fur on her face. Mustering her courage, she glared back at him. "She needs to grow a backbone and her magic." Carla said.

Gaara shook his head. "No. You need to speak less." Gaara said yet again.

Carla growled. "And how would you know? You're nothing but a cold blooded killer." She snarled at him.

Gaara threw her back onto the leg of Nirvana. He focused on raising Wendy faster. He remembered himself, in Suna. A four year old kid crying in a dark street corner, curled into a ball and clutching a run down teddy bear. _I know because I've seen it before._

He allowed the others to see Wendy before him. They swarmed her, asking questions such as "Are you ok?!", or, "What happened!?". But overall, they were just making sure she was alright. Having all these people just caring about her well being instead of being mad at her was a big boost to her mood. After getting through the many, "Yes, I'm ok."'s and "I'm alright"'s, the group returned to their walk towards Zero.

Only this time, instead of walking with the four Fairy Tail wizards, Wendy decided to walk beside Gaara. She figured he could use some company, having been walking all alone, and she wanted to thank him for saving her.

But she couldn't help but frown when she noticed that Carla just stayed with the others, as if she didn't care at all. It was almost like Carla didn't even notice her leave. _What's going on with her?_ Wendy thought to herself.

Gaara saw Wendy walking towards him. He tried to prepare himself for a conversation mentally. _What should I say to her?_ He wondered. Having little to no experience talking to someone who was either afraid or commanding him, he had no idea what to say. _Where do I even start? "Are you alright?", "Are you injured?". I don't know! Maybe I should talk to her about the cat?_

"Hi Gaara!" Wendy chirped. The sound of her voice snapped him out of his internal thoughts and back into reality.

"Hello." Gaara returned the greeting. Indecision held him back from saying anything about the incident.

Wendy rubbed her hands anxiously. "So... um... I just wanted to thank you for saving me." She said. "Again." She added on with a small giggle.

Gaara almost cracked a smile. But he didn't. "You're welcome." He responded, switching his gaze from ahead of him to her.

Things were quiet for a few moments as they walked, before Gaara decided to just go for it and use his observations of other people to find something to say. "Are you... ok?" He asked, half questioning himself on if he said the right thing.

Wendy smiled broadly and nodded. "Yep!" She responded brightly.

Gaara faltered for a second. "I see... that is good." He said. Out of all the things he had done, he would've never expected just talking to someone to be as difficult as he was finding it. Then he remembered one thing that he was sure of saying. "You should ignore whatever the cat told you down there."

Wendy's smile dropped and she began staring at her feet as they both moved forwards. "A-are you sure?... But what she was saying was true..." Wendy commented sadly. She looked to Gaara for his response, only to find him shake his head once. Wendy's eyes brightened. "R-really?" She asked him. He nodded.

Her eyes took on more of a determined look. She looked him right in the eyes. Gaara's eyes widened. _Th-that look... it's the same as..._

FLASHBACK

 _He had been fighting the one he knew was the Nine-Tails Jinchuuriki, Naruto Uzumaki. Somehow the annoying blonde managed to interrupt his sleeping jutsu, and made him wake up._

 _Gaara growled. "Grrrr... You undid my jutsu..."_

 _Naruto wasn't done. He began running on Shukaku's head towards the place where Gaara was ingrained into the great beast's head. "I have to protect Sasuke and Sakura!" He yelled._

 _Gaara had enough. "WHY WON'T YOU JUST DIE ALREADY!?_ _ **SAND COFFIN!**_ _" He exclaimed._

 _Sand quickly pooled around Naruto's feet, stopping him in his tracks. The sand tried to swarm him, but Gamabunta was quicker, and wrapped his long tongue around Naruto as a shield. However, Gaara had a way around that._

 _"What do you think I am, a fool?!" Gaara screamed at the pair. Inside Gamabunta's tongue, sand began to swirl upward from the ground, and began to encase Naruto. Gamabunta rapidly retracted his tongue._

 _Naruto clasped his hands together, desperately trying to gather more chakra. An orange aura of energy appeared around him. "I am going to protect EVERYONE! Get ready you crazy monster!" He yelled._

 _Gaara's vision went red. His eyes went white in fury. "DIEEEE!" He roared, forming a ram seal._

 _Naruto jumped at him, but his sand caught him mere feet away from contact. Naruto struggled against the grasp of the sand. And that was where Gaara saw the blonde's determined blue eyes. It was unlike anything he'd ever seen before. The look of someone ready to go to hell and back just to accomplish their goal._

 _"I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU!" Naruto exclaimed, and landed a mighty headbutt on Gaara's forehead._

END OF FLASHBACK

 _It's the same as... as_ _ **him**_ _!_ He thought in shock. Wendy had the same look in her eyes as Naruto did on that fateful day of the Konoha Crush. Gaara mentally pictured the boy's face. Yellow hair, blue eyes, whisker marks and all. Just the thought of it brought a sneer to his face. _I can't believe I was defeated by that moron._ He thought in anger.

Unknown to him, his face had turned from it's normal neutral expression to an evil sneer. Wendy reached up and tapped him on the shoulder. "Gaara? You alright?" She questioned.

Gaara refocused on Wendy and wiped the expression clean off his face. "Yes." He replied.

Wendy nodded. "Good, because I want you to help me become a better mage." Wendy said in a determined tone to match her eyes.

Gaara's eyes widened yet again and his mouth parted in shock. He stopped moving, and his hands dropped to his sides from their usual crossed position on his chest. "Y-you want... me... to?" Gaara stuttered out, unable to believe his ears.

Someone wanted his help. A _human_. They wanted his assistance, and it wasn't just for Shukaku. He knew for certain since he hadn't told her about it. For the first time in over eight years, someone voluntarily decided to be near him. After six years of solitary separation from other human beings from the moment Yashamaru tried to assassinate him, he didn't really know how to react.

Shukaku watched silently from his seal. He couldn't help but feel a little guilty at Gaara's current predicament, despite knowing it wasn't his fault. _I would say something..._ Shukaku thought to himself, _But this is something Gaara needs to work through on his own. For the sake of himself._

Wendy nodded yet again. "Mhm!" She confirmed.

Gaara would've said yet to a question like the one Wendy just asked him. Just for fear of another heartbreaking betrayal like the one handed to him by Yashamaru. But after learning about the Shukaku's true nature, and gaining a new friend along with it, maybe things were starting to go his way for once? He decided to risk it.

"I accept"


	7. CH-7: Exploration

It wasn't long before the Gaara and the group of guild mages crossed the leg of Nirvana and arrived at the main body. It was even bigger than it looked when you got closer. The bland stone walls rose up hundreds of feet above them, with no apparent way to get over or through them. Atop the wall there were towers made of a lighter colour stone, evenly spaced along the wall. It made Nirvana look somewhat like a castle. Sitting hundreds of metres above the ground.

Jura stopped and turned around to face the group. He looked straight at Gaara. "Can you lift us with your sand?" He asked Gaara.

Gaara didn't reply verbally. He simply nodded. Without moving a muscle, the lid of his gourd popped off and sand began to ooze out and form a platform beneath them. Before long, the platform began to rise, taking the mages and lone shinobi with it.

Unfortunately for Natsu, his subconscious decided that travelling by floating sand was not on his list of acceptle vehicles. He hit the deck like a soldier under fire, and became greener than grass. He curled into a ball and groaned in pain. All he could do was wait it out.

Gray and Lucy sat beside the downed form of Natsu, using the time on their makeshift elevator to take a small break. The grim silence of the journey on the leg continued during their ascension.

But it wasn't long before they reached the peak of the outer wall circling Nirvana. They found that on the inside, the ground floor of the city was far higher than the legs. Their sand ride down was much shorter. When they reached the ground, Gaara retracted his sand, leaving the mages to drop a few meters to the ground.

Once again, they decided to split into groups, though this time opting for smaller groups as to find and defeat Zero faster. Almost automatically, the mages formed themselves into parties with their respective guild members. All except for Wendy. The girl decided to go with Gaara in a team of two. She really just didn't want to be around Carla at the moment. She hoped that the white exceed would go back to her regular self sooner rather than later.

At first, Erza was reluctant to let a team of two go alone, especially with those two being their youngest mages, but Gaara was adamant that if he was going to go with someone, it would have to be Wendy. Natsu was more concerned for Wendy's safety, still not trusting Gaara. Of course, his protests were quickly silenced after Erza stepped in.

And so off they went, marching throught he winding, maze like streets of Nirvana. The tall and dark buildings had their ominous aesthetics amplified by the over abundance of dirt and grime. It truly fit the bill for a city hidden underground for hundreds of years. An eery wind blew past the two small figures as they traversed the ancient city.

Wendy shivered and looked around nervously. Gaara remained steady and stared forwards as usual. He would be lying if he didn't feel the slightest bit unnerved by the strange area they were exploring, but after years and years of solitude and fighting as a shinobi nothing truly struck fear in his heart.

Wendy on the other hand was having some difficulties. Her eyes darted around anxiously, as if she were anticipating a horrible creature to jump out from one of the shadows at any minute. She subconsciously began to walk just inches behind Gaara, only peeking out periodically from either side of him.

It was almost dead silent. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of their shoes tapping against the cobblestone streets upon which they were walking. Wendy swore she could've heard another set of footsteps... somewhere.

Tap.

She began to focus on their individual footsteps.

Tap.

Then, a second later:

Tap.

Wendy froze. _One too many..._ She realized with dread. She stopped walking and tugged Gaara's sleeve. Their footsteps stopped, but not before Wendy heard another extra tapping sound.

"Gaara!" Wendy whispered urgently. Gaara stopped and turned his head towards her. "What is it?" He replied, also whispering.

Wendy's eyes darted around before locking back on Gaara. She leaned into his ear by standing on her toes. "There's someone following us." She whispered to him.

Gaara looked around at their surroundings without moving his head. "How can you tell?" He asked her. He was surprised that she was able to detect something that he wasn't after all his experience in espionage as a shinobi.

Wendy smiled proudly. "Dragonslayers like Natsu and I have enhanced senses. I can hear and smell things better than other people." She explained, putting a finger to her chin. "I think we have better eyesight, too."

Gaara considered this. "Interesting... that's quite extraordinary." He responded. "Be careful. Stay close to me just in case." He advised her. Wendy nodded and held on to the band of cloth holding his gourd.

It was a good thing, too, because only moments after they began walking again Gaara's sand rose from the ground to defend the pair from a stream of purple haze. Gaara grabbed Wendy with his sand and jumped back from where the violet smog originated from.

Cobra stepped out from the shadows of an alleyway with his hands in his pockets. He was wearing a huge smirk on his face. He let out a small snort of laughter. "Heh. I'm impressed you were able to hear me, Sky Maiden, you're the first." He admitted.

He then addressed Gaara. He nodded his head at him, maintaining his laid back posture. "And what's up with you, kid? I don't think I've ever met a person I couldn't hear."

Gaara didn't reply. All he did was stand still with his arms folded beside Wendy, but to Wendy's surprise, Cobra spoke again as if Gaara had answered him. "Wha?- Who's that?! What the hell?!" Cobra exclaimed in surprise. He jumped back with his hands now out of his pockets. He glared at Gaara with a stern expression. "There's something seriously wack with your head." Cobra told Gaara.

Gaara let a small smirk dance across his normally monotone features. "I know." He retorted. Both Wendy and Cobra looked shocked by his answer.

Wendy tapped Gaara's shoulder. "Umm... Gaara? What do you mean by that?" Wendy asked, confused at Gaara's response. He responded without even turning his head. "Nothing you need to worry about right now." Gaara answered her. Wendy, although still confused, nodded. Gaara would tell her when they were safe.

Suddenly, Cobra's eyes went wide, and he recoiled from Gaara strangely. "H-huh?! Whaddya mean?!" The snake charmer seemingly asked Gaara, despite the fact that Gaara hadn't asked him anything.

Unknown to Wendy however, was that Shukaku was having a great time scaring and confusing the living daylights out of poor Cobra. The man really had no idea what to make of this. Out of all his time using his magic to hear people's inner thoughts, he'd never once heard two voices in the same head, even with possessed people such as Jellal.

Cobra's gaze hardened. He pointed at Gaara and glared. "I'll be back, so you'd better hope you have all the sand in the world when I return, psycho." Cobra declared with a growl. Cobra leaned back and disappeared into the shadows of one of the dark alleyways Nirvana held.

Gaara whipped back around and grabbed a hold of Wendy's hand, startling her. "Come, Wendy. If Cobra was here, that means the others are most likely under attack from the other members of Oracion Seis. We must move quickly." He didn't trust his allies to defeat their respective opponents on their own.

The pair began to run through the abandoned streets of Nirvana, led by Gaara. They weaved left and right, running down streets that looked the exact same to Wendy, but she trusted Gaara to lead them in the right direction. But it sure did seem like he had no idea where he was going.

The evening setting sun cast elongated shadows down on them, creating a sharp contrast between the warm oranges and hard blacks. Although Wendy couldn't trust her sight, due to the shadows being nigh impossible to see through, her enhanced hearing and smell combined with Gaara's automatic defense gave her confidence. One thing she had to admit though, was that the city was incredibly beautiful. She only wished she could've seen it during it's prime.

Suddenly, they stopped. She looked up to Gaara, to see if something was wrong. Gaara frowned and muttered, "I've been a fool." Wendy tilted her head. "Huh?" She responded.

Gaara didn't answer her, but instead formed a cloud of sand beneath their feet, and began to lift them into the air. It was clear that they should've been doing this since they began running.

From their position, Wendy could see the most amazing view she'd ever had the privilege of viewing in her short life. They were almost at the height of some of the nearby mountains. Below them, the massive city fanned out. Beyond that, the Worth Woodsea spanned out seemingly infinitely, only being cut off at the sides by the mountains.

The glowing sunset provided a beautiful golden lighting to everything, which was enhanced by the shadows the mountains cast over the forest. For a moment, all Wendy could register was her, and the landscape around her in that serene moment. She was truly breath taken.

She was snapped back into focus by Gaara willing the sand cloud to move. She began to look at the city below them, in hopes of catching a glimpse of their allies. Although if they were too late, she could perhaps see the flashing lights and explosions of a battle.

It was Gaara who finally spotted a friendly face; the Fairy Tail group. He lowered themselves down to land next to the rambunctious wizards.

"Wendy? Gaara? What are you two doing here?" Erza questioned. Natsu, Gray, and Lucy turned their heads towards them.

"We were just attacked by Cobra." Replied Gaara. "He retreated, but we should all regroup so they can't pick us off one group at a time."

"I see. You're right then, we need to find Jura and and others." Erza agreed thoughtfully. The others nodded. "Let's go!" shouted Gray, and they all ran off.

Meanwhile, things weren't going so great for the not-so-formidable mages belonging to the Blue Pegasus guild. The infamous trio, along with their head honcho, Ichiya, were on the ground, heavily bruised and scraped. The opponent they had been facing was none other than Midnight.

The fight was nothing more than a complete blow out. The Tri-Men squad stood absolutely no chance. All Midnight had to do was wave his hand four measly times, and his four enemies were down for the count. It couldn't of been more of a disappointment for him. He was the ultimate mage, unable to be defeated by any other wizard unfortunate enough to face him. After all, who could claim victory against a magic that renders all other magic useless?

Midnight climbed back onto his magic carpet, preparing to keep drifting and hopefully find more enemies. He was about to fall back asleep when Cobra walked out of a nearby alleyway. Midnight's carpet rotated to allow the two to talk.

"What is it?" Midnight asked impatiently. He wanted to get back to sleep.

Cobra looked anxious. "I just had a run in with that little red-head kid that took out Racer. The Sky Maiden was there too, but it was just them." He replied.

Midnight raised an eyebrow. "Well? Did you eliminate them?"

Cobra clicked his tongue and looked away. "Tch, no. There's something seriously wrong with the ginger, so I don't want to mess with him yet." He explained.

Midnight furrowed his eyebrows. "What's that supposed to mean? Couldn't you have just had Cubellios take out the girl?" He questioned.

Cobra shook his head. "The kid would be way too fast for her. You saw how he blocked Racer's attacks, what makes you think Cubellios would have a better time getting past him?"

Midnight tilted his head in contemplation, before nodding in agreement. "Yes, you're right. Very well then, I suppose you should report it to Zero. Maybe he's figured out some way to defeat him." Midnight advised.

Cobra turned away and hopped onto Cubellios' back. "I sure hope so..." He muttered as Cubellios ascended, carrying him towards their guild master. _Because I don't want to spend any more time around him than is required..._

After fully regrouping, the mages of the light alliance were now on their way towards the center of Nirvana, where they had collectively agreed was the most likely place for Zero to be located.

Natsu was being carried a foot of the ground by Happy, who did not look all too pleased with the situation. A heavily bandaged Hibiki was working with his archive magic while they traveled to try and find a weakness in the monstrosity called Nirvana. At the back of the group, Wendy and Gaara quietly conversed.

"Gaara?" Wendy asked quietly.

Gaara looked at his feet. _Damn, I thought she'd forgotten about this for now._ "Yes?" He replied.

Wendy looked nervous. "What exactly did you mean when you agreed that something is wrong with you?"

Gaara kept walking and maintained his cool gaze, but on the inside he was reeling. _What do I say? What do I say? Damnit all!_ Gaara thought. Luckily for him, it was at this exact moment that Hibiki had a breakthrough with his research.

"Guys! I just figured out how to defeat Nirvana!" The primary member of the Tri-men declared. They all stopped.

"How?" Jura asked simply.

Hibiki clicked around on his keyboard. His eyes darted around the screen rapidly. "According to what I'm seeing here on this map, there are six main sources of magic running this thing." He pulled up a larger window of his archive magic for the whole group to see clearly. "They are located at the the six joints connecting each leg to the main body of Nirvana. If we destroy all six, theoretically Nirvana will have no power source to run off of, and shut down."

"Furthermore," Hibiki continued. "Lacrima this big will need to all be destroyed simultaneously, otherwise it won't work."

"Why is that?" Erza questioned.

"It's due to the fact that all these lacrima are connected. If one falls under attack, the others wil lend it magical energy in a sort of balancing mechanic." Hibiki explained.

"So all we have to do is hit all these things at the same time. Great. But how are we gonna time it properly?" Gray inquired.

Hibiki had an answer for that too. "My Archive magic allows me to setup telepathic links between people. I'll create links connecting myself to each of the six people at a lacrima."

"Let's get going then! What're we standing around for?!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Just hang on a moment Natsu, it's quite possible that Zero will be at one of the lacrima to defend it. After all, all he needs is for one of the six to survive and Nirvana would be fine." Said Erza.

"Not only him, actually. It's likely the other Oracion Seis are each defending one lacrima." Hibiki added.

"So each team going to a lacrima will have to fight one of the six." Gray summarized. The group was silent.

"Hah! Don't worry guys, I know we can take 'em!" Natsu encouraged. His outburst seemed to breathe a new life into the weary mages.

Erza smiled and nodded. "Agreed. Let's go finish this." She said. "Gray and I will form a team, along with Natsu and Lucy. That's two of the six we need."

Gray froze. "Er-r... ehe... uhm, do you think we could... uh... yknow... switch up the teams?" Gray asked tentatively.

Erza turned her sharp glare on him. "You object to my plans?" She questioned.

Gray jumped and saluted. "NO MA'AM!"

Erza smirked and put her hands on her waist. "Good."

"Lyon and Sherry will go together, and I will go alone." Added Jura. "That's four. The remaining two teams will be made up of Gaara and Wendy, and the Blue Pegasus mages."

"Let's go!" Erza shouted. The other nodded and replied with, "Right!"

"Finally here I see." Declared Master Zero, standing at the base of the gigantic lacrima in the middle of the plain-looking room.

It was just Gaara at the lacrima. Wendy had been forced to remain with the other members of their make-shift alliance, who had been injured while fighting the remaining members of Oracion Seis. She was the only one who could heal Cobra's brutal poison, and after team Blue Pegasus encountered him, all they could do was try to hold out until Wendy heard the battle with her extreme senses. When she and Gaara arrived, Cobra was no match.

Jura had come across Midnight on his way to the lacrima, and only through use of his most powerful spell did he claim victory, although not without heavy injury. He managed to limp his way to the designated lacrima.

Natsu and Lucy made quick work of Angel, who really stood no chance in a two on one battle. While Lucy occupied her celestial spirits, Natsu had free reign to attack Angel, who had little in the way of physical defensive capabilities. It was a quick fight.

Erza and Gray came across the one known as Hoteye. The largest member of Oracion Seis proved to be a master of stalling, as his liquefied ground was impossible for Gray to freeze and too difficult for Erza to dash over. The only way they could get to their lacrima in time was for Gray to remain behind to take care of Hoteye while Erza maneuvered by with her flight armour, although she barely got through.

While Lyon and Sherry had the fortune of being the only group to get to their lacrima without resistance, Gaara ended up against Zero, alone, and down a quarter of his chakra from dealing with Cobra.

Gaara said nothing in return, walking forwards with his arms crossed. His cork slid out of his gourd with a faint pop, and sand began to leak out, leaving a trail of sand in his wake.

"Y'know, I've been looking forwards to fighting you ever since I first witnessed you fighting Racer." Zero continued. "A light mage who kills without a second thought..." Zero snorted. "Who would've thought."

Gaara didn't bother with responding, but prepared for a tough battle none the less. He had never failed a mission before, not even close. Gaara of the Desert Sands did not fail.

And he didn't plan on starting.


End file.
